New York lawmakers issued emergency regulations Aug. 16 to prevent physicians from writing excessive medical vaccine exemptions.
The new regulations require physicians who grant an exemption to fill out forms outlining the medical reasons a child is not being vaccinated, effective immediately. In the past, physicians only had to submit a signed statement to schools, notifying them of the exemption.
The regulations seek to clarify the vaccine exemption process and come about two months after New York enacted a new law banning religious vaccine exemptions.