Ma Xiaowei (2nd left), minister of China's National Health Commission (NHC), visits a temporary COVID-19 vaccination site at the Luwan Stadium in Huangpu district of Shanghai municipality to survey local vaccination work on April 1. [Photo/nhc.gov.cn]

Ma Xiaowei, minister of China's National Health Commission (NHC), paid a visit to Shanghai municipality on April 1 to survey and guide local COVID-19 vaccination work.

During his stay in Shanghai, he had in-depth communication with local officials, visited vaccination sites to learn about the inoculation progress and listened to the reports of the Shanghai municipal government and related departments at a symposium.

He said that with swift actions taken according to the requirements of the national videoconference of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council, Shanghai has rapidly enhanced its COVID-19 vaccination capacity and significantly increased the daily administrated doses, which lays a solid foundation for fulfilling vaccination plans as scheduled.

He stressed that Shanghai, as a cosmopolis, should further summarize and explore the experience in massive vaccination campaign in large cities, speed up the vaccination work and maximize the vaccination rate.

Efforts should be made to resolutely ensure safety as the bottom line, and to keep order at the vaccination sites, he said, underlining the importance of vaccination in strict accordance with guidelines, monitoring of suspected abnormal reactions and emergency treatment.

He also noted that it is necessary to strengthen vaccination publicity and guidance and prevent over-simplified operation and a "one -size-fits-all" approach.

Meanwhile, he urged conscientious commitment to the prevention and control of both imported and indigenous COVID-19 cases, especially during the Tomb Sweeping Day and May Day holidays, in a bid to prevent large-scale outbreaks of imported cases and rebound.