A fitting response to the vaccine scandal

Beijing News:

That 357 government employees have been held accountable for the vaccine scandal demonstrates the central government's determination to punish wrongdoers and officials who don't fulfill their duties, and set the benchmark for quality and safety of vaccines and medicines to eradicate possible safety hazards in the public healthcare sector.

Punishing so many government employees and putting in place a broad accountability system reflect the government's serious efforts to handle such public health-related cases, which will help ease people's anxiety and ensure thorough follow-up investigations. The launching of the accountability system in response to the vaccine scandal suggests it could become a standard formula to handle similar problems in the future. The punishment meted out to 357 government employees has also broken the illusion that a big group of officials cannot be penalized simultaneously.

However, serious cases like the vaccine scandal cannot be solved by just holding 357 officials accountable. To prevent such cases there is need to correct all the institutional flaws in the vaccine production and distribution system, and strengthen their management. Thus, it is hoped stricter accountability measures will also apply to officials who fail to fulfill their supervisory role to win back public trust.