Arizona Vaccine Exemptions: Personal, Religious, and Medical

An Arizona vaccine exemption comes in three forms: a personal belief exemption available only to K-12 students, a religious belief exemption for children in childcare or preschool, and a medical exemption available in any setting. Each requires a specific state-issued form submitted to the school or facility before your child attends. Which form you use depends on your child’s age and where they’re enrolled, and getting that wrong is the most common reason an exemption is rejected.

Personal Belief Exemption for K-12 Students

This is the broadest exemption Arizona offers, and it’s the one most families use. To claim it, you sign a statement confirming three things: that you have received immunization information from the Department of Health Services, that you understand both the benefits of vaccination and the risks of not vaccinating, and that you do not consent to your child’s immunization due to personal beliefs. You don’t need a doctor’s signature, and you don’t have to explain what those beliefs are.¹

The statement has to be submitted on the Department-provided form, and it must include your name, your child’s name, date of birth, the specific immunizations you’re declining, and your signature. File it with the school administrator before your child attends classes.²

One boundary matters here: the personal belief exemption is available only for grades K-12. It does not apply to childcare, preschool, or Head Start programs, and childcare facilities cannot accept the K-12 form.³

Religious Belief Exemption for Childcare and Preschool

If your child is in a childcare center, preschool, or Head Start program, the personal belief route is closed. The only non-medical exemption available is a religious belief exemption.³

To claim it, submit a signed Department-provided form to the childcare facility stating that immunizations are against your religious beliefs. This form is different from the K-12 personal belief form. If your child moves from a childcare setting into kindergarten, you’ll need to file a fresh exemption under the K-12 rules.²

Medical Exemption

A medical exemption is available in every setting, K-12 and childcare alike. If a physician or registered nurse practitioner determines that a required vaccine could be harmful to your child’s health, they sign a certification identifying the specific medical condition and how long it is expected to last. You sign it too, and the certification goes to the school or facility.¹

Unlike the personal belief and religious belief exemptions, a medical exemption is only valid for the duration of the condition. If the condition resolves, the exemption expires. Your child will then need to be vaccinated or qualify for a new exemption.³

What an Exemption Doesn’t Protect Against

Filing an exemption keeps your child in school under normal conditions. It does not keep them there during an outbreak. If the Department of Health Services or a local health department declares an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease, any student who lacks documented proof of immunization has to stay home until the outbreak period ends. This applies regardless of which exemption you hold, and the school administrator is required to enforce it once notified.¹

During a measles outbreak, an unvaccinated child with a valid personal belief exemption faces the same exclusion as a child whose records are simply missing.

Which Vaccines Your Exemption Covers

Arizona’s required immunization list is set by rule and depends on your child’s age and setting. The core vaccines required for school and childcare entry are:

Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (typically DTaP)
Polio
Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (typically MMR)
Varicella (chickenpox)
Hepatitis B
Meningococcal disease
Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), required for children ages two months through 59 months
Hepatitis A, required only for children ages one through five in childcare in Maricopa County

Your exemption form lists which of these you’re declining, so you can select all of them or just specific ones.⁴

Two vaccines never appear on that list because state law bars them from being mandated for school attendance: the HPV vaccine and any COVID-19 vaccine, including variants. You don’t need an exemption for either one.⁵ A separate statute extends the COVID-19 prohibition to school districts and charter schools, covering both students and teachers.⁶ And no vaccine can be added to Arizona’s required list simply because the CDC recommends it; the Department of Health Services has to formally adopt it through rulemaking first.

College Students

Arizona does not impose a state-level immunization mandate on college students. Individual public universities and community colleges may set their own policies, and many require vaccines like MMR or meningococcal for students living in campus housing or entering healthcare-related programs. If you want to opt out, you’ll be dealing with your specific institution’s exemption process, not a state form.

The one clear state-law protection: public universities, the Arizona Board of Regents, and community colleges cannot require students to get a COVID-19 vaccine, show proof of one, or face any penalty for declining, including mandatory testing or mask requirements imposed solely on unvaccinated students.⁷

Two narrow exceptions exist. A healthcare institution hosting clinical rotations, such as a hospital, nursing facility, or group home, can require COVID-19 vaccination proof and health screenings for students working in that facility. A public university can also require COVID-19 testing during a significant outbreak in shared student housing, but only with prior approval from the Department of Health Services.⁷

Workplace Vaccine Exemptions

If you work for the state of Arizona, or for any city, town, or county, your employer cannot require you to be vaccinated for COVID-19. Those same government entities are also barred from establishing a COVID-19 vaccine passport.⁶

Private employers can require vaccinations, but they must accommodate employees whose sincerely held religious beliefs prevent them from receiving a COVID-19, influenza, or flu vaccine, or any vaccine authorized by the FDA for emergency use only. The accommodation must be reasonable, and the employer only escapes the obligation if providing it would impose more than a minimal cost on business operations. Employers are also prohibited from discriminating in employment decisions, wages, or benefits based on vaccination status.⁸

Healthcare settings are the notable carve-out. Arizona does not broadly prevent healthcare institutions from requiring vaccination of their staff, and federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requirements may add further obligations for facilities that participate in those programs. Even so, federal law under Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act still requires reasonable accommodations for sincerely held religious beliefs and qualifying disabilities.

Getting the Forms

The Department of Health Services maintains the standardized forms for all three exemptions: the personal belief exemption for K-12, the religious belief exemption for childcare, and the medical exemption used across all settings. Public schools are required to disclose both the immunization requirements and the exemption options to families, so if your school has not given you that information, you are entitled to ask for it.⁹

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 15-873 – Exemptions; Nonattendance During Outbreak
2
Legal Information Institute. Arizona Administrative Code R9-6-706 – Exemptions from Immunizations
3
Arizona Department of Health Services. Arizona Immunization Handbook for Schools and Child Care Programs
4
Legal Information Institute. Arizona Administrative Code R9-6-702 – Required Immunizations for Child Care or School Entry
5
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 36-672 – Immunizations; Department Rules
6
Arizona Attorney General. Opinion I21-007, R21-006 – Whether an Employer Can Require a COVID Vaccination
7
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 15-1650.05 – COVID-19 Vaccine; Face Covering; Testing; Mandate Prohibition; Exceptions
8
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 23-206 – Employers; Accommodations Required Vaccinations; Religious Exemption
9
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 15-872 – Proof of Immunization; Noncompliance; Notice to Parents; Civil Immunity