Although Louisiana has vaccination requirements for children entering daycare or school, these requirements can be waived. The child’s parent or guardian may request an exemption in writing for medical or religious/philosophical reasons. The parent or guardian simply provides their child’s name, date of birth and states their decision to exempt their child from the school vaccination requirements, and files this with the day care operator or school principal. Medical exemptions are completed by the child’s healthcare provider. There is no requirement for the document to be notarized, and all requests are granted. The Louisiana Department of Education’s exemption form is available here.
The specific legislation requiring immunizations for entering daycare centers or schools is found in Louisiana Revised Statute 17:170 available here.
Although enforcement of vaccine requirements happens within the school system, vaccine recommendations apply to all children, including home study students, for protection in all social environments.
The Louisiana Office of Public Health strongly encourages age-appropriate vaccinations for children. Immunizations reduce preventable death and disability for an individual child, interrupt disease transmission in communities and decreases the number of vaccine preventable disease outbreaks in Louisiana.