Reforms in China’s Vaccine Administration—From the Perspective of New Governance Approach

Abstract

Recent vaccine scandals have overshadowed China’s accomplishments in public health, triggering discussions on the causes of vaccine incidents. This study aims to review the development of China’s vaccine administration, find out the causes of recurring vaccine incidents in the past decades, and propose a new governance approach to vaccine administration in the context of a public resource trading system. We collect and analyze relevant legal frameworks and data from legislative materials, government documents, press releases, and reports from the World Health Organization. In essence, it is the combination of the lagging legal system and the absence of information technology infrastructure in the process of vaccine administration reform that has led to the recurrence of vaccine incidents. Though the vaccine incidents occurred concentratedly in phases of production and lot release, and circulation, it is necessary to examine the whole life cycle of vaccine administration. The enactment of the Vaccine Administration Law outlines a supervision framework, which utilizes the Whole Process Electronic Traceability System and Whole Life-cycle Quality Management System to achieve the interconnection of all aspects of vaccine administration. The reform of China’s vaccine administration is essentially a balance between efficiency and safety, which also represents the interaction between marketization and administrative supervision.