A top legislator suggested on Tuesday that China should reform and improve its vaccine management system to effectively protect people from infectious diseases.

Wang Chen, vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, made the remarks at a meeting in Beijing while delivering a report on a national legislative inspection of the implementation of the law on infectious disease prevention and control.

Governments at all levels should always prioritize the safety and quality of vaccines, and intensify supervision of vaccines at all stages, including production, distribution and use, to establish a long-term mechanism for safety management, he said.

Continued efforts are needed to carry out the national immunization plan to improve coverage and quality of vaccinations among the population, especially among migrant children, Wang said.

He also suggested expanding the list of Category One vaccines — which are provided by the government for free — so that more safe, effective and affordable vaccines are included in the category.

The safety of Chinese-made vaccines has become a major public concern after China’s top drug regulator discovered that Changchun Changsheng Bio-tech, a major vaccine producer in Jilin province, had seriously violated the law while producing rabies vaccines over the past four years, resulting in potentially substandard vaccines entering the market.