A high school student accompanied by her parents is vaccinated at the COVID-19 vaccination site at Jiangnan Gymnasium in Nan 'an District, Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, on Sunday Photo: IC

China's Ministry of Education (MOE) has urged local authorities across the country to promote student vaccination amid the recent domestic COVID-19 outbreaks that have spread to at least 18 provinces and cities in China. 

The MOE issued the notice on Tuesday for the epidemic prevention and control work in the education system during the summer holiday. The rules require education departments around the country to immediately activate the emergency response mechanism to COVID-19. 

Vaccination should be promoted to all eligible students below the age of 18, the notice said.

The inoculation must be conducted with the consent of the students or their guardian, it added. 

China has rolled out vaccination campaign for under-aged students in some places. 

North China's Tianjin Municipality is among the first places administering vaccines to students. It started vaccination for those between 15 and 17 on July 24, with those aged 12 to 14 following on Sunday. 

Regions including Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and Central China's Henan Province began the vaccination of adolescents on Sunday. The first doses for students aged between 15 and 17 and 12 and 14 in the two places will start in August and September, respectively.

Nanchang, East China's Jiangxi Province, will begin the vaccination campaign in the middle of August, expected to finish by the end of October.

The latest domestically transmitted epidemic outbreak in China, which first occurred in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, has since spread to at least 18 provinces and cities.

The MOE also required education departments of the epidemic-affected provinces to report local epidemic information on time every day.