About a dozen provincial medical product inspection institutions in China will soon be capable of conducting the lot release of vaccines to meet the demand of COVID-19 vaccine production in the country, a health official said on Monday.

Yuan Lin, an official at the National Medical Products Administration, said apart from a national medical product inspection institution, another three, in Beijing, Hubei and Guangdong, also can conduct the inspection and lot release of COVID-19 vaccines.

The country is actively promoting the lot release and inspection capability in provincial institutions, he said.

Vaccines are key medical products that require stringent supervision, he said.

The vaccine management law, which came into effect in December 2019, stipulates that each individual lot of vaccines, domestic or imported, must be evaluated by State-approved institutions before being approved for market, Yuan said at a news conference.