From Birth Certificate to Database

Why Every New Jerseyan Should Opt Out of the NJIIS Now

They’re not calling it “automatic enrollment.” They don’t have to.
Under the NJDOH’s new proposal, your newborn’s birth record and every vaccine you’ve ever received will feed a state database — no consent required. And once your name is in, that record can later be used to deny your religious exemption. This is the quiet rewrite of medical freedom in New Jersey — and it’s happening right now.

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New Jersey’s Department of Health (NJDOH) is proposing new amendments to N.J.A.C. 8:57 that would dramatically expand the state’s vaccine registry, the New Jersey Immunization Information System (NJIIS).
The agency never calls it “automatic,” “universal,” or “streamlined” enrollment — but the way the rule is written, that’s exactly what it amounts to.

Every resident, including newborns, will be placed into NJIIS whenever the state receives any immunization or birth record.
You can still file to withdraw — for now. But you will not be able to refuse being added in the first place.

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How You Get Enrolled (Whether You Want It or Not)

The proposal revises N.J.A.C. 8:57-3.16 to say:

“A person shall be enrolled in NJIIS upon NJIIS’s receipt of the immunization record of a person who receives a vaccine in New Jersey, or of a report of immunization for a person, whether or not the person was immunized in New Jersey.”
— Rule Proposal 8:57, p. 104

Elsewhere, the Department defines a “registrant” to include:

“...a person for whom the Department or a provider reports an immunization, or a newborn reported by a birthing facility, and a person for whom a registry participant enters information into NJIIS.”
— Rule Proposal 8:57, p. 105

That means hospitals and birthing centers can upload birth-certificate data directly into the registry.
Doctors, pharmacies, and electronic health-record systems will feed in vaccination data.
You don’t sign a consent form. You don’t opt in. The state simply receives data — and you’re in.

This is what NJDOH calls “improving data completeness.” Most would call it enrollment without consent.

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You Can Withdraw — But Only After You’re In

The same section allows that:

“A registrant may withdraw from NJIIS by submitting a request in writing, on a form the Department provides.”

That’s the only protection left: a paper request to be removed after the state has already created your file.
Right now, you can still do this by completing the official withdrawal form:
👉 IMM-47: Registrant Withdrawal from NJIIS

Mail it with proof of ID to:
NJ Department of Health, Vaccine Preventable Disease Program, P.O. Box 369, Trenton, NJ 08625-0369

But once these new rules take effect, even that process could be narrowed or delayed. The “opt-out” becomes little more than an escape hatch from a system you never agreed to join.

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Why Even the “Partially Vaccinated” Should Opt Out

Many parents think: “My kids already got a few vaccines — it’s too late to claim religious exemption.”
That’s exactly what NJDOH wants you to believe.

In its official Vaccine Q&A memo (October 2024) (page 35), the Department states:

“A religious exemption would become null and void if a child received a vaccine that was recommended or required for school attendance.”

In plain English: if your child has ever had even one of the required shots — MMR, DTaP, polio — the state says your exemption no longer counts.

That interpretation has no basis in law.
New Jersey’s statute, N.J.S.A. 26:1A-9.1, only requires a written statement that vaccination “interferes with the free exercise of the pupil’s religious rights.”
It says nothing about previous vaccines. Faith can change. Conviction can deepen.

But under NJDOH’s logic, your existing NJIIS record proves you once accepted vaccination, and that can be used to invalidate your religious claim later.
In other words: the registry doesn’t just store your history — it can be used against you.

That’s why even the “slightly hesitant,” or those who received vaccines in the past, should opt out now.
Once your record is embedded in NJIIS, it’s ammunition for bureaucrats who believe your beliefs aren’t sincere enough.

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The Bigger Picture: Data First, Consent Later

The NJDOH frames this overhaul as “modernization.”
But a system that logs every shot from birth and requires paperwork to escape isn’t modernization — it’s mission creep.

Each new database, each new linkage — from hospital birth records to pharmacy uploads — tightens a net around parental authority and bodily autonomy.
Today it’s “public health efficiency.” Tomorrow it’s “compliance monitoring.”

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Act Now While the Exit Door Is Still Open

Public comments on the proposal close November 14, 2025.
Submit feedback here:
👉 NJDOH Public Comment Portal

And before that deadline, opt out of NJIIS for yourself and your children:
👉 IMM-47 Opt-Out Form

Don’t assume this right will still exist a year from now. Once the system is codified, “withdrawal” could become purely symbolic.

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Final Word

The NJDOH may not call it automatic enrollment — but if every birth and every vaccination ends up in the same database without consent, the label hardly matters.
It’s the effect that counts.

If you value privacy, religious freedom, or the basic right to decide what medical data the government holds about your family — act now.
Withdraw while you still can.
Because once your child’s birth certificate becomes their permanent vaccine file, there’s no such thing as opting in.
Only opting out — if they still let you.