Parents can now submit consent forms electronically for their children’s seasonal flu vaccinations in the upcoming school year if their child’s school is participating in the government's outreach programme, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said on Tuesday.

The government launched the Seasonal Influenza Vaccination School Outreach Programme several years ago to increase vaccination uptake among students and to make it easier for schools to arrange on-site immunisation services.

The programme covers secondary schools, primary schools, kindergartens, kindergarten-and-child care centres, childcare centres, special schools and special childcare centres.

For the 2026-27 season, the CHP said it would continue to offer both traditional injectable flu shots and nasal spray vaccines, and schools can choose between the two main supply models or adopt a hybrid mode that gives students a choice.

Starting next Monday, parents can use the eHealth mobile app to scan a dedicated QR code issued by their children’s schools.

This one-stop process will replace the traditional paper consent form.

The CHP confirmed that it would begin distributing the dedicated QR codes to participating schools on Wednesday, and it added that parents who have multiple children studying at different schools must scan the corresponding QR code for each school separately.

Leung Yiu-hong, head of the emergency response and programme management branch, explained that the electronic consent system offers several clear advantages.

He noted that it eliminates the hassle of filling out paper forms, allows parents to access their children’s vaccination records and health data anytime through the eHealth app and minimises human errors such as illegible handwriting.

Furthermore, the system enables schools to collect consent lists earlier so that outreach activities can be scheduled sooner.

To ensure a smooth transition, Leung added that a dual-mode arrangement would be implemented in the coming school year to give schools and parents enough time to adapt to the new digital system.

“We... strongly urge the parents and schools to adopt this new measure, so as to reduce the administrative workload for both the schools as well as the healthcare service providers, and the parents of children can also easily fill in the form in just a few minutes,” he said.

“We understand that there may be some parents who are not able to use or not prefer to use the electronic means to submit their consent form for their children, so for these parents who are not able to use the e-consent, they can continue to use the paper forms and the schools are well informed of this arrangement.”

Leung reported that by the end of December 2025, more than 2,300 schools – representing 99 percent of all schools – had organised seasonal influenza vaccination outreach activities, a significant increase from the 91 percent recorded in the preceding school year.


Edited by Aaron Tam