A former top official at the biggest vaccine manufacturer in China, who oversaw the creation of the nation’s first inactivated Covid-19 injection, has been removed from the national assembly.
Using a widely used euphemism for corruption, the National People’s Congress (NPC) said in an official statement on Friday that Yang Xiaoming had been dismissed from his position as a delegate of the legislature for alleged “serious violations of discipline and law.”
Yang, 62, is a seasoned researcher and the former chairman of Sinopharm’s vaccine division, China National Biotec Group. He oversaw the development of Sinopharm’s BBIBP-CorV vaccine, which was the first coronavirus vaccination authorized for widespread use in China.
The NPC said that Yang is already under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party’s disciplinary authority, in a statement released after a four-day meeting of its standing committee.
The two most popular Covid-19 vaccinations that China exported were the Sinopharm shot and Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac.
Yang was fired in the midst of the largest crackdown on China’s healthcare system, which is part of a larger anti-corruption campaign that President Xi Jinping started in late 2012.
The goal of the crackdown is to eradicate pervasive corruption in a kickback-ridden system. Numerous hospital directors have been imprisoned since last year, and it targets drug corporations, insurance funds, and hospitals.