In the afternoon of June 29, the General Office of the NPC Standing Committee held a special press briefing on the Vaccine Administration Law of the People's Republic of China, passed by voting the same day at the Eleventh Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress (NPC). NMPA Minister Jiao Hong attended the briefing and answered questions from reporters by stating that the Vaccine Administration Law (hereinafter referred to as the Law) shall fully implements General Secretary Xi Jinping's Four Strictest (Standards, Regulation, Punishment, and Accountability)requirements for drugs, to impose wholeprocess, all-aspect and multi-faceted strict supervision over vaccines to ensure their safety, effectiveness, accessibility and quality enhancement, and beef up people's confidence in vaccine safety in China. 

Jiao expressed that vaccine, as a special medicine, is a national strategic product featuring public welfare. In response to the characteristics of vaccines, the Law clearly states that the State implements the most stringent management system for vaccines, and proposes special systems and regulations for the whole process of vaccine development, production, circulation and vaccination. Furthermore, the Law has meted out penalties far heavier than those for the general drugs for the production and sale of counterfeit and substandard vaccines and other illegal acts, stressing that the penalties shall be specific and severe to offenders in terms of their qualification, property, and personal freedom. 

Jiao emphasized that the Law also takes into account safety, development and innovation. To actively promote the further improvement of the quality of vaccines in China, the Law has made a series of new regulations to encourage the innovation and development of vaccines. 

Jiao pointed out that since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially since the reform and opening-up, China's vaccine industry has achieved rapid development. China has become one of the few countries in the world that can be self-reliant for all planned immunization vaccines. China's National Regulatory Authority for Vaccines passed WHO assessment in 2010 and reassessment in 2014, and is currently poised for a new round of WHO assessment. Taking the enactment of the Law as an opportunity, we are to comprehensively improve China's drug and vaccine regulatory system, consolidate supervision capabilities, better serve the development of the vaccine industry, protect the drug safety for the people, and promote the transition from quantity-extensive to quality-intensive vaccine administration.