The State Council has released a guideline to strengthen the management of China’s vaccine circulation and vaccination, aimed at improving the vaccine quality and ensuring the safety of vaccination.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) is urged to establish a national expert advisory committee for an immunization program. It requires adjusting categories of vaccines, and gradually introducing more qualified, efficient and affordable vaccines into the State immunization program.

All regions should improve the compensation system of abnormal reactions in vaccinations, said the guideline. Any patient with abnormal reactions should be compensated through a multi-layer insurance system, including basic and complementary insurance plans. And an inter-ministerial conference system on vaccine circulation and vaccination should be set up to strengthen communication and coordination.

Besides improving the work mechanism, the guideline also urged research and development on qualified vaccines and the scale production of key vaccines to deal with big medical emergencies.

As far as the vaccine circulation is concerned, it called for involving vaccine purchases in the provincial public resources trade platform, improving vaccine storage and transportation, and governments at all levels should take measures to make sure the vaccines are delivered to rural areas.

A vaccine traceability information system would be established to trace the sources of the vaccines, according to the guideline.

To improve the national vaccination standards, the guideline proposed listing a second type vaccine, regulating the actions of vaccination units, strengthening the skill guidance and training the grassroots medical staff.

Guaranteeing measures such as establishing investment mechanisms at prevention institutes, improving the quality of medical staff in disease prevention fields and giving them subsidies and improving the pricing system were also stressed in the guideline.

The State Council also urged involving the vaccination, disease control and financial support work in the performance assessment of local governments in order to strengthen supervision efforts, and asked NHFPC and the Food and Drug Administration to conduct specific inspections and report any major issues.