N.J. Admin. Code § 8:57-4.4

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 8, April 15, 2024

Section 8:57-4.4 - Religious exemptions

(a) Each school, preschool, or child care center shall exempt a child from mandatory immunization if the child's parent or guardian submits to the school, preschool, or child care center a written, signed statement requesting an exemption, pursuant to the requirements for religious exemption established at 26:1A-9.1, on "the ground that the . . . immunization interferes with the free exercise of the pupil's religious rights."

1. The school, preschool, or child care center shall be prohibited from exempting a child from mandatory immunization on the sole basis of a moral or philosophical objection to immunization.

(b) Religious affiliated schools or child care centers shall have the authority to withhold or grant a religious exemption from the required immunization for pupils entering or attending their institutions without challenge by any secular health authority.

(c) Each school, preschool, or child care center shall retain a copy of the written statement set forth in (a) above in the child's immunization record.

(d) A school, preschool, or child care center may exclude children with religious exemptions from receiving immunizing agents from the school, preschool, or child care center during a vaccine-preventable disease outbreak or threatened outbreak as determined by the Commissioner, Department of Health and Senior Services, or his or her designee.

(e) As provided by 26:4-6, "Any body having control of a school may, on account of the prevalence of any communicable disease, or to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, prohibit the attendance of any teacher or pupil of any school under their control and specify the time during which the teacher or scholar shall remain away from school."

1. The Department of Health and Senior Services shall provide guidance to the school on the appropriateness of any such prohibition.

2. All schools are required to comply with the provisions of 8:61-2.1 regarding attendance at school by pupils or adults infected by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

(f) Those children enrolled in school, preschool, or child care centers before September 1, 1991, and who have previously been granted a religious exemption, shall not be required to reapply for a new religious exemption under 8:57-4.4(a).

N.J. Admin. Code § 8:57-4.4

Amended by R.1990 d.243, effective 6/4/1990 (operative September 1, 1991).
See: 21 N.J.R. 3897(a), 22 N.J.R. 1766(a).
Title changed; explanation required in (a); new (d) and (e) added.
Amended by R.1995 d.201, effective 4/3/1995.
See: 27 N.J.R. 270(a), 27 N.J.R. 1417(a).
Amended by R.2010 d.147, effective 7/19/2010.
See: 41 N.J.R. 2417(a), 42 N.J.R. 1597(a).
Rewrote (a) and (c); in (d), substituted "A school, preschool, or child care center may exclude" for "Those", deleted "may be excluded" following "agents", and inserted a comma following "Services"; in (e), recodified the last two sentences as (e)1 and (e)2; and in (e)2, updated the N.J.A.C. reference.

The adopted version of this section 56 N.J.R. 213(a), effective 1/3/2024 is not yet available