Do Kids Have to Be Vaccinated to Get Into Church Nurseries?

Nursery Versus Day Care

• No U.S. state has immunization regulations that apply specifically to church nurseries that only operate during church services, according to the links to all state laws posted on the National Vaccine Information Center website. Regulations apply to facilities that operate as licensed day care facilities or provide instruction as private schools. Church nurseries are therefore not required to report the vaccination status of children left in the nursery, and most do not require that parents submit proof of vaccination to be admitted to the church nursery. Unless you volunteer the information, your church nursery staff probably assumes you vaccinate your child on schedule and that information is reported by the day care facility your child attends.

Time Spent in Nursery

• Most children do not spend enough time in the church nursery to warrant checking and storing each child̵7;s vaccination information. If your child is there while you attend Sunday school and church each week, that means less than five hours for most kids. Visitors who bring a child to the nursery might only spend one hour at the church and not return, so requesting the vaccination status for every child who spends time in the nursery isn̵7;t practical for the church or for state regulation. Working parents who place their young children in the nursery will present vaccine information to the facility or child care provider who provides the bulk of the child̵7;s care.

Mother̵7;s Day Out Programs

• Some churches provide part-time child care through Mother̵7;s Day Out programs, and the church could ask those parents to provide vaccination status information under the broadest interpretation of the state law̵7;s. State laws vary, and some, such as Pennsylvania, require child care facilities to report vaccination status only for children that attend for 40 or more hours per month. Check with the director of the church̵7;s MDO program to see what state laws apply to children enrolled in the program.

Immunization Exemptions

• Every state in the U.S. except Mississippi and West Virginia has religious exemptions to vaccine regulations, and 18 states have philosophical exemptions parents may use to legally refuse immunizations. All states have medical exemptions. These exemptions legally allow parents to place unvaccinated children in any child care facility or school. Additionally, some children who spend time in a church nursery might not attend day care during the week. While most of the kids in church nursery probably have received most scheduled vaccinations, the possibility exists that unvaccinated children spend time in your church̵7;s nursery.