Minnesota offers broad exemptions from required childhood vaccinations, including for medical, religious, and personal reasons.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health: "If an immunization is medically contraindicated for a child, or if there is laboratory confirmation that a child is already immune to certain diseases against which immunization is normally required, the student may submit a statement to this effect, signed by a health care provider, in order to be considered exempt from the contraindicated or unnecessary immunization.”
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For those seeking a personal exemption the state said: "If a child's parent or guardian, or the child (in the case of an emancipated minor), wishes to be exempt, based on their beliefs, from one or more immunization requirements, the parent or child may submit a statement to this effect, signed by the submitting person and notarized."
Families must fill out a form from the state health department that is also signed by their medical practitioner.
In the wake of a recent outbreak of measles, Minnesota Rep. Mike Freiberg, DFL-Golden Valley, introduced a bill that would require those seeking vaccination exemptions for personal reasons to speak with a doctor about the risks and benefits of
vaccines, the Pioneer Press reported.
Frieberg said he hoped such a requirement would help dispel misinformation about the dangers of vaccinations.
All states offer vaccination exemptions for medical reasons, most allow for exemptions on religious grounds, and 20 offer philosophical exemptions,
according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
California, Mississippi and West Virginia are the only states that do not offer vaccination exemptions for nonmedical reasons,
according to the Pew Research Center.
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