Chief scientist in China's COVID-19 vaccine project under probe amid graft crackdown on healthcare sector
Once lauded for his achievements in combating COVID-19, Yang Xiaoming is now suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law” and has been stripped of his parliamentary post.
Yang Xiaoming was a chief engineer and chief scientist at China National Biotec Group (CNBG), under Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm. (Photo: Chinese Vaccinology Course)
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SINGAPORE: The chief scientist of China’s first approved COVID-19 vaccine has been ousted from the national legislature as the country’s anti-graft drive trains its sights on the healthcare sector.
Local media reported last Friday (Apr 26) that Yang Xiaoming had been removed as National People’s Congress delegate, on suspicion of “serious violations of discipline and law”. The phrase typically means being investigated for corruption or misconduct.
Yang, 62, was a chief engineer and chief scientist at China National Biotec Group (CNBG), under Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm. CNBG developed China’s first COVID-19 shot - colloquially known as the Sinopharm vaccine - for general public use in 2020.
News outlet China Daily reported that Yang led a team that developed the vaccine. He is also the chief scientist of China’s COVID-19 vaccine project under the 863 programme - a state-funded and administered initiative on developing advanced technology.
The Sinopharm jab and another homegrown COVID-19 shot by Sinovac Biotech were the most widely used in China during the pandemic, and the main COVID-19 vaccines exported by the country.
Information on China Daily’s website states that Yang is a researcher with a master’s degree in medicine. He was honoured as an “outstanding member of the Communist Party of China” and a “national advanced individual in combating COVID-19” in 2020.
According to The Paper, Yang once served as director of the National Engineering Technology Research Center for Combined Vaccines. He was also recognised by the Chinese Society of Immunology as an outstanding scholar, the South China Morning Post reported.
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Yang’s dismissal from the NPC comes as China presses on with a crackdown on the healthcare system, launched last August as part of the country’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign.
The clampdown targets the bribing of doctors in drug and medical equipment sales, according to Reuters. Medical institutions, insurance funds, pharmaceutical production and operation enterprises have been targeted.
A report on Sunday (Apr 28) by the state-run Global Times stated that since March, at least 33 key figures have been investigated or disciplined, including several directors of hospitals and university management, as well as top officials in local medical and health systems.
Last August, China’s National Health Commission said some people in key positions have been guilty of accepting kickbacks, bribery and profiteering in recent years, as quoted by the Global Times.
