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

Parents can submit online consent forms from Monday for their children’s seasonal flu vaccinations under a school outreach programme, with Hong Kong authorities seeking to simplify procedures.The Centre for Health Protection said on Tuesday that a digital consent system would be introduced on the eHealth mobile application – the city’s electronic health record platform – for the coming school year.“Parents no longer need to manually fill in the information item by item, saving a lot of time and avoiding human error,” said Dr Chim Pak-wing, principal medical and health officer of the centre’s emergency response and programme management branch.The Department of Health will begin issuing specific QR codes to schools starting on Wednesday for distribution to parents.The QR codes will be activated on Monday, when parents can start scanning them through the eHealth app to complete and submit the electronic consent forms for their children.Branch head Dr Leung Yiu-hong emphasised that the QR codes were unique to each school and valid only for students enrolled at that institution, urging parents not to share them with others.