(Yicai Global) July 19 -- Shanghai has achieved full-process tracking of vaccines from purchase through supply, storage and transport to administration by establishing a comprehensive vaccine and vaccination management information system, its municipal health department recently announced.

The eastern Chinese megacity's comprehensive vaccine and immunization management information system has achieved realtime sharing of data on recipients, vaccines and inoculation services. This system not only allows monitoring of the temperature control of each vaccine during transit and storage in actual time, but also automatically checks and prompts during vaccinations to minimize errors, state news agency Xinhua reported yesterday.

"The doctor administering the vaccination only needs to scan the code and then get all the information from factory to vaccination. If any problem arises, the system sounds an alarm. It also can trace back to the specific vaccine in time if adverse reactions occur," said Wu Fan, deputy director of Shanghai's health and family planning bureau.

The system has enhanced the regulatory efficiency of the city's health department and the service quality of its immunization clinics, Wu said, adding Shanghai will continue to expand and develop public service applications, such as vaccination service reservations using the notification and record lookup function on the popular WeChat messaging and payment app.

The municipality has vigorously promoted IT-based inoculation by organizing and developing data platforms, integrating and connecting multiple independent systems -- e.g. a residents' electronic health record system -- and vaccine logistics information system, while addressing problems such as some authentication codes only appearing on large and medium packaging and discrepancies occurring between vaccine and vaccination codes.

Editor: Ben Armour