Hong Kong rolls out online consent forms for children’s school flu jabs

Hong Kong has launched an online consent system for parents to submit their children's seasonal flu vaccination forms through the city's electronic health record platform, eHealth. This digital consent service aims to simplify the process by eliminating the need for parents to manually fill out forms. Dr Chim Pak-wing, the principal medical and health officer of the Centre for Health Protection, explained that this change saves time and reduces the risk of human error.

Parents and guardians with children under 18 must be registered with the eHealth system to use the digital consent service. Once a parent scans the unique QR code provided by their child's school, they can verify the school's name and confirm the pre-filled information before submitting the form. The process is expected to take only a few minutes.

Children's class and student numbers will also be entered, and parents will select their preferred vaccine type. While electronic consent forms will be accepted for the upcoming school year, paper forms will still be accepted in case some schools and parents require additional time to adapt. The department has also introduced an online student information platform that enables schools to monitor consent submissions and download lists of vaccinated students.

Over 2,200 schools, out of approximately 2,300 in Hong Kong, have signed up for the 2026-27 outreach programme, with 14 schools indicating they will not participate. A list of non-participating schools will be published on the Centre for Health Protection's website. The government aims to increase flu vaccination rates among children to better protect them against the infection, with 2025-26 figures showing that over three-quarters of children aged 6 to under 12 were vaccinated, compared to 61.4 per cent of those aged 12 to under 18.