Under Pressure, Michigan Makes It Easier To Opt Out Of Vaccine Tracking

Michigan health freedom and privacy advocates scored a win this month when the state’s health department stopped using a vaccine information handout that failed to explain to parents how they can opt out of the state’s vaccine tracking program, and didn’t include an opt-out form.

It’s the latest development in health freedom and privacy advocates’ efforts to get the state health department to stop adding a thick layer of bureaucratic red tape — which isn’t even required under state law — that makes it difficult for families to opt out of vaccines and vaccination tracking.

“While this is definitely a win, there is still a long way to go,” said journalist and Michigan resident Jeremy R. Hammond, who has a 13-year-old unvaccinated son.

Until now, the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services (MDHHS) largely avoided telling parents what the tracking system is and how they can opt out of it, Hammond said.

This matters because the state’s vaccination tracking system, Michigan Care Improvement Registry(MCIR), causes “pressure and coercion” for families who prefer not to vaccinate, according to Dr. Remington Nevin, medical director for the St. Clair County Health Department in rural eastern Michigan.

Dubbed “Michigan’s ‘RFK Jr.’” by Bridge Michigan, Nevin is an epidemiologist with multiple degrees from Johns Hopkins University. He is also a former U.S. Army major and preventive medicine officer.

Nevin spoke with The Defender about why it’s crucial for parents to be able to opt out of MCIR — and how he submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests that likely led the state health department to stop using the old form and start making it easier for parents to opt out.

State health department violated Michigan law

The MCIR system sends reminders to medical staff to encourage them to keep their pediatric patients up to date with the American Academy of Pediatrics or the American Academy of Family Physicians childhood vaccine schedule.

When a child visits a clinic, front desk staff and nurses may tell parents their child is due for a particular vaccine, even though “the parent and the child’s physician may have decided together through shared clinical decision-making to not give that shot until later on in the child’s life,” Nevin said.

Michigan law requires the state health department to give parents a form — before vaccinating a child — notifying parents that they can object to having their child automatically enrolled in MCIR.

But for years, MDHHS failed to give parents any such form.

Instead, the health department interpreted state law to mean that giving parents a revised version of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vaccine Information Statement (VIS) — which included a blurb at the bottom saying parents can object to the tracking system — was enough to satisfy the legal requirement.

The blurb on the modified VIS handout stated, “Individuals have the right to request that their medical care provider not forward immunization information to the Registry.”

However, the handout failed to tell parents how they could opt out.

‘State public health agencies do make mistakes’

The modified VIS handout wasn’t an opt-out form as technically required by Michigan law. However, MDHHS officials defended the form on the basis that the CDC had approved its use of the handout, Nevin said.

Nevin decided to push MDHHS to back up its claim. Last summer, he sent repeated FOIA requests to the MDHHS, asking for the paper trail showing the CDC’s approval.

On Sept. 8, 2025, the health department said it was unable to produce any record showing that the CDC had greenlit MDHHS’ use of the modified VIS handout.

During a June 2 webinar about its “updated VIS process for vaccination,” MDHHS quietly announced that it would no longer be using the modified VIS handout.

An MDHHS spokesperson told The Defender a recording of the webinar will soon be made available, along with an FAQ answering questions received during t he webinar.

When asked why MDHHS stopped using the modified VIS handout, the spokesperson said that “a review of this process determined that a separate form provided individuals a more defined and clearer process on how to opt out.”

Now, parents are given a form that tells them what MCIR is and that they can opt out.

However, parents still have to jump through another hoop by locating and signing a different form that officially opts them out of MCIR, according to a Michigan for Vaccine Choice press release.

Nevin said:

“The big lesson here is that when a state public health agency interprets a law or makes a claim, it’s perfectly appropriate to question them. What this shows is that state public health agencies do make mistakes.”

The MDHHS spokesperson defended MCIR, saying it “reduces vaccine-preventable diseases by ensuring individuals are up to date on vaccines and prevents over-vaccination by allowing providers to view complete patient immunization history in one system.”

Fear of national attention likely led health department to change its tune

According to Nevin, MDHHS likely stopped using its modified VIS out of fear that the issue could draw national attention.

On April 15, St. Clair County’s health department unanimously voted to start providing parents with the MCIR opt-out form, as the law requires.

Around that time, KFF Health News reporter Kate Wells, who was investigating Michigan vaccine uptake, interviewed Nevin about the county’s move away from using the state’s modified VIS handout and toward the opt-out form. He said:

“Her questioning was implying that we were out of line, that we were ignoring state guidance, that the state was not recommending this and therefore we were wrong.

“I suspect that on her discussing this with the state and preparing to report on this, the state probably realized, ‘Wait a second, this is going to get national attention. We probably want to get our practices in line with what the law actually requires.’”

‘My own family has experienced that discrimination’

Failing to give parents an opt-out form for the MCIR isn’t the only way the state health department has skirted Michigan law on vaccines and informed consent, Hammond said.

For years, both MDHHS and public school officials have lied to Michigan parents about what they must do to get their child an exemption from a school-based vaccine mandate, according to Hammond.

“Parents are told that the law requires them to go to the local health department to attend what they perversely call a vaccine education session and obtain a certified ‘waiver’ form,” he said.

However, under both the Revised School Code Act 451 of 1976 (Michigan Compiled Law 380.1177) and the Michigan Public Health Code (MCL 333.9208, MCL 333.9215), the exemption requirement is met “if a parent … of the child presents a written statement to the administrator of the child’s school … to the effect that the requirements of this part cannot be met because of religious convictions or other objection to immunization,” Hammond said.

In other words, Michigan law requires only that parents who seek a vaccine exemption for their child submit a written request to the school administrator, stating that they have a religious or other objection to vaccination.

Hammond criticized MDHHS for adding extra requirements. He said:

“By imposing extrastatutory requirements on parents, this executive agency is claiming legislative authority, which is completely unconstitutional. And many schools are complicit in this scheme by denying admission to children whose parents have fully met the requirements of the law by submitting a written exemption statement. My own family has experienced that discrimination.

“So, the end of modified VISs and proper use of MCIR opt-out forms is just one important step on an ongoing battle here in Michigan to end the systematic discrimination and violations of privacy and the right to informed consent.”

---