BEIJING: China’s top scientist, who developed the first inactivated Covid-19 vaccine at the height of pandemic in the country in 2020, has been stripped of his membership in the National People’s Congress (NPC) due to serious discipline and law violations, official media reported in Beijing on Monday.
The charge of serious discipline and law violations is a common euphemism for corruption under the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) disciplinary practice.
Yang Xiaoming is the chairman of China National Pharmaceutical Group’s vaccine subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG). The 62-year-old is a veteran researcher who headed the CNBG — a vaccine subsidiary of state-owned Sinopharm — and led a team that developed Sinopharm’s BBIBP-CorV vaccine, China’s first coronavirus shot approved for general use. According to a statement by NPC, Yang is already being investigated by the party disciplinary body — the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).
The Sinopharm shot and Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac were the most widely used in China and the leading Covid-19 vaccines exported by the country.
Another former Sinopharm senior executive, Zhou Bin, who once served as the company’s deputy general manager, was placed under investigation by the CCDI in Jan.
The charge of serious discipline and law violations is a common euphemism for corruption under the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) disciplinary practice.
Yang Xiaoming is the chairman of China National Pharmaceutical Group’s vaccine subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG). The 62-year-old is a veteran researcher who headed the CNBG — a vaccine subsidiary of state-owned Sinopharm — and led a team that developed Sinopharm’s BBIBP-CorV vaccine, China’s first coronavirus shot approved for general use. According to a statement by NPC, Yang is already being investigated by the party disciplinary body — the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).
The Sinopharm shot and Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac were the most widely used in China and the leading Covid-19 vaccines exported by the country.
Another former Sinopharm senior executive, Zhou Bin, who once served as the company’s deputy general manager, was placed under investigation by the CCDI in Jan.