Breaking News: “Father of China’s COVID-19 Vaccine” Yang Xiaoming is under investigation!
Official sources stated that he is suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law.” It is important to note that it is not just ordinary violations, but “serious violations of discipline and law.” However, details regarding the specific serious violations have not been disclosed by the authorities.
The news of Yang Xiaoming being investigated has surprised many Chinese people. Over the past decade, numerous corrupt officials in China, from high-ranking political figures to minor village leaders, have fallen from grace. The public has become accustomed to such cases, so why did Yang Xiaoming’s investigation come as a shock to many? Simply put, it is because he carried the title of “Father of China’s COVID-19 Vaccine.”
The implications of the “Father of China’s COVID-19 Vaccine” being suspected of serious violations have raised concerns about the safety and integrity of the domestically developed vaccines. Many are questioning whether the vaccines overseen by Yang Xiaoming have serious issues regarding their effectiveness and quality.
According to reports by NTDTV, Zhang Zhizhong, the Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Taipei’s Kaohsiung University, suggested that Yang Xiaoming’s investigation could be related to pharmaceutical corruption or the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, including its efficacy and costs.
Public records reveal that Yang Xiaoming, born in February 1962, is an expert in biopharmaceuticals. He graduated from the Clinical Medicine Department of Lanzhou University in 1980 and later worked at the Lanzhou Biopharmaceutical Research Institute. In 1997, Yang Xiaoming went to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States to conduct research in molecular microbiology and vaccine studies. In 2002, he returned to China to serve as the Deputy Director of the Wuhan Biopharmaceutical Research Institute.
Since 2010, Yang Xiaoming has been employed by the China National Pharmaceutical Group’s subsidiary, China Biotech. He has held various positions such as Director of the National Joint Vaccine Engineering Technology Research Center, Chief Scientist of the National “863” Program Vaccine Project, and Chairman of China Biotech. The China National Pharmaceutical Group is a centrally managed state-owned enterprise focusing on life and health, established in 1998.
For nearly 40 years, Yang Xiaoming has focused on fundamental research on infectious disease vaccines, creating engineering technology systems, and developing major products. The vaccines he contributed to developing include inactivated polio virus vaccines and acellular pertussis combination vaccines.
After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan in 2020, Yang Xiaoming led a team to develop and launch the world’s first inactivated COVID-19 vaccine. This groundbreaking achievement led to his nickname as the “Father of China’s Vaccine,” and he was honored as an “advanced individual in combating the COVID-19 pandemic nationwide.”
By December 2021, on the first anniversary of the vaccine’s release, it had received registration in 10 countries and approval for use in 112 countries and regions. It became the COVID-19 vaccine with the highest number of approved countries, widest distribution, and largest number of doses administered at the time.
According to Xinhua News Agency, on April 24, 2021, during the 19th China International Talent Exchange Conference held in Shenzhen, Yang Xiaoming stated that China, by mobilizing the national effort, successfully developed the inactivated vaccine in just 98 days, surpassing other countries in both speed and quality, leading globally in vaccine development.
However, many experts have raised concerns about the unusually rapid development of China’s domestic vaccines. Generally, vaccines take over 10 years from development to market, and even expedited ones require around 5 to 6 years. Following the administration of domestic vaccines, reports of various adverse reactions surfaced—cases of leukemia and cardiovascular diseases increased significantly, leading to a rise in sudden deaths.
Reflecting on the past three years of the pandemic, especially the last two years, under the dual pressures of government mandates and expert recommendations, the Chinese people have been urged to receive the domestic vaccines extensively. If one shot did not suffice, they were pushed to get two, then three, and even booster shots. People were compelled to get vaccinated every day, with even kindergartens requiring vaccination records for admission. Despite these aggressive measures, the effectiveness and potential side effects of these vaccines remained undisclosed, leaving the public reluctant to inquire further.
Previously reported by Xinhua News Agency, as of September 18, 2021, a cumulative total of 2.174 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in China, covering over 1.1 billion individuals, with more than 1 billion people fully vaccinated. This rollout accounted for 78% of the country’s total population, making China a global leader in terms of vaccination doses and coverage rates.
With the recent investigation of Yang Xiaoming, the “Father of China’s COVID-19 Vaccine,” for serious violations, questions arise about the potential link between his misconduct and the domestic vaccines. If there is a connection, how might this impact the safety of the domestically produced vaccines? Given the significance of these questions concerning over a billion individuals, should the authorities provide the public with a convincing explanation?