FILE PHOTO: A nurse prepares a vaccine to be given to a child in a hospital in Beijing, China, April 13, 2016. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China has proposed new draft laws on vaccine management which seek to tighten the supervision and management of how vaccines enter the country’s market and will also require stricter management of their production, research and distribution.
The State Administration for Market Regulation, which published the draft laws on its website late on Sunday, is soliciting public views up to Nov. 25.
The document also proposes severe punishment for those who participate in illegal practices, such as the fabrication of data, or who impede investigations.
China has pledged to reform and improve vaccine production and management after recent scandals which involved a firm that fabricated production and inspection records and sold ineffective vaccines.
Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Paul Tait