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Vaccines: To get them or not? The voices coming from this year’s Two Sessions are all substantive.
Release date:
2019-03-11
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Excerpt: Vaccine Circle
Abstract
Legislative efforts to regulate vaccines will move forward!
On the morning of March 4, The Second Session of the 13th National People’s Congress held a press conference in the Press Hall of the Great Hall of the People. Spokesperson Zhang Yesui explicitly stated that in 2019, legislative work would be prioritized in four key areas, including: Deliberation on the Draft Vaccine Administration Law 。
Editor’s analysis: This means that this year, China will make concrete progress in enacting legislation on vaccine management. Within the framework of governing the country according to law, such legislative efforts are undoubtedly a positive development for vaccine regulation.
△Photo: Spokesperson Zhang Yesui
Vaccines: to get them or not?
On February 25, at a press conference convened by the National Health Commission, Gao Fu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. When responding to questions from reporters, he stated that, From both a Chinese and an international perspective, vaccination is an effective means of preventing and controlling disease.
According to survey data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the vaccination coverage rate for vaccines included in the National Immunization Program currently exceeds 90%. In the past, smallpox was successfully eradicated through vaccination, and hepatitis B vaccination has effectively reduced the incidence of hepatitis B among children under five to below 0.3%.
Editor’s note: Vaccines should still be administered—please don’t fall for the claim that “not vaccinating your child is safer”!
Photo/ The National Health Commission held a press conference, inviting deputies and members from the medical and health sectors to discuss the key issues of concern at this year’s Two Sessions.
Domestic vaccine, Can you still fight?
At the press conference held by the National Health Commission on February 25, Gao Fu stated that, over the past year, relevant authorities have established a dedicated Immunization Program Working Group to systematically analyze vaccine-related incidents from recent years.
“If the issue lies with vaccine quality, it will be addressed by the quality regulatory authorities; if it stems from problems in the distribution and management process, we will assist those agencies in resolving it.” To ensure the safety and efficacy of vaccines, two key factors are paramount: first, elevating the level of scientific research; second, implementing coordinated management. Moving forward, we will prioritize these two areas to provide the public with high‑quality vaccines that are both safe and effective, with quality firmly under control.
Gao Fu pointed out: From a quality standpoint, China’s vaccines are among the best in the world. Do not lose confidence in their protective efficacy, and certainly do not lose faith in Chinese vaccines.
What feasible measures can be taken to ensure vaccine safety?
File photo: National Committee Member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Fang Laiying.
At the Two Sessions, many deputies and members put forward proposals and motions addressing vaccine safety. Fang Laiying, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and vice president of the Chinese Hospital Association, proposed establishing a traceable vaccine management system.
I propose establishing a pharmaceutical traceability system to ensure the quality and safety of medicines and vaccines. In the event of a drug‑safety incident, products can be swiftly recalled, and the affected patient can even be precisely identified.
There are two key concepts: “one box, one code” and “one code throughout.” Specifically, this means that from the product’s manufacturing process through distribution and use, every step must be traceable under a single, consistent code. “One box, one code” entails assigning a unique code to each individual package for precise identification. With today’s technology, achieving this level of granularity is entirely feasible. By contrast, using a single barcode per batch poses significant risks: for example, a genuine medication might bear the batch number “25078,” yet counterfeit products could also falsely claim to belong to the same batch.
On the one hand, it enables precise tracking of drug distribution, allowing identification of end‑consumers and revealing who purchased a particular package; should any issues arise, timely and targeted recalls can be initiated.
On the other hand, a big data platform for pharmaceuticals can be established, which would be particularly helpful in combating counterfeit drugs. For example, if a particular batch of medication is supposed to comprise 50,000 boxes but 60,000 are found on the market, it is clear that 10,000 of them are counterfeit. By leveraging a drug traceability system, we can precisely identify and locate these falsified products, thereby enhancing public safety in medication use.
In addition, establishing a traceability system will undoubtedly leverage modern information technologies, which will also facilitate the development of a pharmaceutical Internet of Things. For instance, as hospitals increasingly move toward smart and digital operations, building a drug‑traceability framework can lay the groundwork and create the necessary conditions for future IoT initiatives, thereby effectively reducing societal management costs. We are fully capable of undertaking this task.
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