California law includes immunization requirements, but how do they apply to private homeschoolers? This page explains the law’s provisions, exemptions available, and how to comply while protecting your family’s rights. It also covers the records you need to keep and includes articles such as one mom’s personal story and a New York Times piece questioning the effectiveness of vaccines. Additionally, find resources to help guide your decisions on this sensitive topic.

*Note: We at FPM are not attorneys, and we are not giving out legal advice. Our organization focuses solely on the legislative aspect of protecting private home education. This page is not intended to be, nor does it constitute the giving of legal advice.

If you have further specific questions regarding this or any other legal issue, please contact HSLDA, whose staff is available to answer legal questions for their members.

For more information, read HSLDA’s “Updates to California Immunizations Laws and Related Record-Keeping and Reporting Requirements” published on September 20, 2016.

Home School Legal Defense Association    (540) 338-5600

We continue to be as vigilant as ever in California to protect your homeschool freedoms. We have monitored and reviewed SB 276 and SB 714 (Pan, 2019).

SB 277 (Pan and Allen, 2015), which we opposed, eliminated the personal beliefs exemption to required vaccinations.

On the positive side, private homeschoolers are protected from the effects of this bill. We worked with the authors in drafting amendment language that was added to SB 277, which excludes all pupils enrolled in home-based private schools from the vaccination requirements.

This exclusion language remained in the final version of the bill that the Governor signed on June 30th, 2015. The amendment language was intentionally worded to ensure that students enrolled in private PSPs are also excluded from the vaccination requirements.

Below is the actual text with the exclusion in the California Health and Safety Code, Division 105, Part 2, Chapter 1, Section 120335 (where it lists the required immunizations):

(f) This section does not apply to a pupil in a home-based private school or a pupil who is enrolled in an independent study program pursuant to Article 5.5 (commencing with Section 51745) of Chapter 5 of Part 28 of the Education Code and does not receive classroom-based instruction.

You can see the entire chapter of the Health and Safety Code that contains this section here.

Even though vaccines are not required for children enrolled in a home-based private school (including PSPs), an Immunization Record (form CDPH 286) should be kept on file with each student’s school records.

This applies to all home-based private school students ages 6-18. The student’s name should be filled in as well as any vaccinations the child has received, regardless of how many or how few (including none).

HSLDA recommends that if the child fits the above category, you write the following statement, “Home Based Private School Per SB 277” at the top of the Immunization Record – Form CDPH 286 (AKA Blue Card), if using a Blue Card older than the 2019 version.

By a California Homeschooling Mother

Last year I took my teenage sons in for their Tdap shots. I debated about it, but decided to proceed. I wish I hadn’t. I checked in at the desk that my sons were there for a Tdap. The injection nurse gave my first son his Tdap vaccination, then while I was distracted with a younger child, I heard my son yelp. I turned and saw the nurse had given him a second immunization (varicella) without my permission because it was “scheduled” in his medical records, and she had a third prepped to give him! He didn’t expect it any more than I did.

I very strongly told her I was unhappy about this, which caused quite an uproar among the staff (who were probably afraid of a formal complaint or lawsuit). Other than making it clear to them that I would not allow them to give son #2 anything but the scheduled Tdap and letting my pediatrician know, I did not file a formal complaint. It was too late, obviously, to undo what had been done. The nurse gave my second son the Tdap only, and put back the other two immunizations she had planned to give him. I had considered sending my sons in without me as they are now teenagers, and I thank God that I didn’t because they may have each received all three immunizations before I would have known it happened.

On a much earlier occasion, an injection nurse mixed up the vaccinations for my two young sons who were there at the same time. I caught the mistake when I asked her to let me know exactly what she was doing. I had to tell her that the immunization she was poised to give one son was actually scheduled for the other. Fortunately no harm was done, but it put me on guard.

When I was pregnant with my youngest, my OB/GYN urged me to get the flu vaccination due to my “advanced maternal age.” This is the only time I consented to get the shot. They told me I would get the “special” mercury-free version as I was pregnant, then urged me to have my children vaccinated as well. I asked if they would also receive the mercury-free shot. They told me they could not. I asked why the regular flu vaccine wasn’t safe for an expectant mother but was safe for my young children. They didn’t provide me with an answer to my satisfaction, so we declined.

June 2009 – New York Times Article Summary

According to a case report filed with federal health officials and obtained by the New York Times last year, “a 6-year-old girl from Colorado received flu-Mist, a Flu vaccine ….  And about a week later she ‘became weak with multiple episodes of falling to the ground’ and ‘difficulty walking.’ …  The girl grew weak, feverish and ‘became more limp, appears sleepy, acts as if drunk,’ the report said.”

She was hospitalized and was finally withdrawn from life support.  She died April 5, 2008, according to the report.  An investigative team noted that she hadn’t experienced any problems with her previous vaccinations.

In another case reported by the New York Times, “9-year-old Hannah Poling, was 19 months old and developing normally in 2000 when she received five [vaccination] shots against nine infectious diseases.  Two days later, she developed a fever; cried inconsolably and refused to walk.  In the next seven months, she spiraled downward, and in 2001 she was diagnosed with autism.”

Genuine issues exist regarding vaccine efficacy and safety.  Vaccines have damaged thousands of children.  Not all vaccines are equally safe or dangerous.  It varies from vaccine to vaccine and often child to child.  Your decisions can last a lifetime.  Seizures, retardation, and death are only a few of the many potential side effects.  The FDA recently documented over 7,000 adverse reactions to vaccinations per year over the previous 17 years (https://vaers.hhs.gov/).  And this is only the tip of the iceberg as there are likely huge numbers that go unreported due to factors such as financial liability for death or damages.

(Source: Gardiner Harris of the New York Times; 6-28-08)

Additional Resources on the Threats of Vaccinations