The prompt and efficient popularization of the COVID-19 vaccines at home and abroad will effectively curb the growth of the pandemic, Zhang Wenhong, the leader of the Shanghai team of experts in the treatment of COVID-19, wrote in a Weibo post on his personal account on Tuesday.

"The speed at which the population is vaccinated against the novel coronavirus will determine how the fight between human beings and the virus will evolve," he wrote.

"The faster the vaccination is popularized, the sooner the pandemic will be brought under control and it will be harder for the speed of virus mutation to keep up with the pace of disease prevention and control," wrote Zhang, who is also the director of the infectious diseases department at Huashan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University in Shanghai.

As of Monday, nearly 602,000 people in Shanghai have received the domestically produced inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, with no severe adverse reactions reported, according to the Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Vaccinations for the general public could start around the Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 12.