New amendments to drug law can restore people's faith in vaccines

THE STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS reviewed the draft amendment of the Drug Administration Law on Monday, in which six clauses on vaccines have been added. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

In the current Drug Administration Law, "vaccines" only appears once in the clause defining "medicines", stating "medicines include vaccines". There are no specific clauses in the existing law covering vaccines.

Although China has a special regulation on the circulation and inoculation of vaccines, it lacks legal binding force. And the absence of legal clauses on matters related to vaccines in the Drug Administration Law has undoubtedly weakened the supervision over the sector, as well as the law enforcers' power in dealing with vaccine-related crimes.