Vaccination Consent Form
Digital vaccination consent form for Swiss vaccination campaigns, school immunisation programmes, and travel medicine clinics. Covers health pre-screening, allergy check, and informed consent under the Swiss Epidemics Act (EpG) and nFADP.
In a vaccination campaign the consent signature is the part everyone remembers and the pre-screen is the part that matters clinically. Five short questions decide whether this person, today, should receive this vaccine — and in a school hall or an occupational health session, they have to be answered before the queue reaches the nurse, not while it waits.
The pre-screen, and what each answer rules out
| Screening question | What it is there to catch |
|---|---|
| Previous reaction to this vaccine or a component | Anaphylaxis to a prior dose — a general contraindication for any vaccine |
| Egg protein, gelatin, neomycin, yeast allergy | Component-specific contraindications: egg for some influenza vaccines, gelatin for varicella and MMR |
| Current illness and fever | Severe acute illness with fever, which defers rather than cancels the vaccination |
| Immunosuppression | Live attenuated vaccines, which are contraindicated |
| Pregnancy | Most live vaccines, which are contraindicated in pregnancy |
What this form collects
- Patient or child name, date of birth, contact details
- Vaccine name and disease targeted
- Context of vaccination (campaign, school, travel, occupational)
- Allergy screening (egg protein, gelatin, neomycin, yeast)
- Current health status and fever check
- Prior vaccination history and any adverse reactions
- Pregnancy or immunosuppression status
- Consent declaration with parental signature for minors
- Healthcare provider administration record
Epidemics Act and the vaccination record
Under the Swiss Epidemics Act (EpG), the administering provider keeps the vaccination record and makes it available to the patient in their vaccination booklet or electronic record. The nFADP requires vaccination data, as sensitive health data, to be processed with appropriate security.
Vaccination is voluntary — which is what makes consent load-bearing
Switzerland runs a national vaccination programme coordinated by the FOPH, covering recommended vaccines from infancy to old age. Vaccination is voluntary: there is no mandatory vaccination law, though the EpG gives federal and cantonal authorities powers to recommend or order vaccination in an epidemic or pandemic. Because participation is a choice rather than an obligation, the quality of the consent is not a formality — it is the entire legal basis on which the vaccination proceeds.
What informed consent for vaccination requires
Informed consent means the patient — or their legal guardian for a child — has received information about the vaccine's purpose, the disease it prevents, the benefits and known risks, the consequences of not vaccinating, and any contraindications. Consent has to be voluntary and free of coercion, which in an occupational setting is worth thinking about explicitly: a vaccination session arranged by an employer needs to leave a visible way to decline.
Basic and supplementary vaccinations
The Swiss vaccination plan distinguishes basic vaccinations (Grundimpfungen) from supplementary ones (Ergänzungsimpfungen). Basic includes DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB, MMR, varicella, HPV, meningococcal, and annual influenza for risk groups. Supplementary includes hepatitis A and B, TBE/FSME, pneumococcal, and rabies for travellers. Travel vaccination is tailored to the destination, which is why the form asks for the context rather than assuming a campaign.
Who signs when the patient is a minor
Swiss law (ZGB Art. 16) works from capacity of judgement (Urteilsfähigkeit) rather than a fixed age. An adolescent with sufficient maturity to appreciate the nature and consequences of a vaccination may consent independently. In practice most providers require parental consent below roughly 14 to 16, depending on institutional policy — so a school programme should set its own threshold in advance rather than deciding it at the table.
Vaccination data under the nFADP
Vaccination records are health data and fall into the sensitive category under the nFADP. Providers must apply appropriate security and may share vaccination data only with other providers involved in the patient's care, with public health authorities under EpG reporting obligations, and with the patient. End-to-end encryption keeps the collected record readable only to your organisation — each submission is encrypted on the patient's device, and the Vault key that opens it never reaches us.
Running a campaign
Use this template
Copy it into your dashboard — the contraindication screen and the administration record are already structured.
Set the vaccine
Update or pre-fill the vaccine name for campaign-specific forms — annual influenza, an HPV school programme, a travel consultation.
Configure it for minors
For school programmes, enable the parental signature field and state that a parent or legal guardian must sign below your chosen age threshold.
Distribute ahead of the session
Send the link to patients, schools or employers so the screening answers exist before the queue forms.
Complete the administration record
After vaccination the administering nurse or physician records the dose and updates the patient's vaccination booklet.
Questions providers ask
Can a child consent without a parent?
Legally it can happen — ZGB Art. 16 turns on capacity of judgement, not age, so a sufficiently mature adolescent may consent alone. Operationally, most institutions set a policy threshold around 14 to 16 and require parental consent below it. Decide and document yours before the session rather than during it.
What if someone reacts after vaccination?
Minor reactions — soreness at the injection site, low-grade fever, fatigue — are expected and usually settle within one to three days. Serious adverse reactions should be assessed by a doctor immediately and reported to Swissmedic through the ElViS pharmacovigilance system.
See our use case for healthcare practices, our guide to informed consent in the digital age, and the new patient intake template for the wider clinical history.