The central government has issued a guideline to boost development and management of vaccines.

The guideline, issued by the General Office of the State Council, called for support in vaccine research and development and efforts to improve vaccine quality.

Vaccine manufacturers should be encouraged to upgrade their management of vaccine quality and production, according to the document.

The guideline also called for enhanced supervision of purchases and distribution of vaccines.

Procurement of vaccines should be made online in a transparent and fair manner, and production, purchase and distribution of vaccines should be well tracked, it said.

A scandal broke in March 2016 when improperly stored vaccines were found to have been sold to patients.

Following the scandal, China has carried out a series of measures to fix loopholes in distribution.