China announces vacc plans against 15 diseases

China's Health Minister, Chen Zu, has announced plans to vaccinate the world's largest population against 15 diseases, up from seven under existing immunization programs, the People's Daily reports. The Chinese government has "made considerable achievement in controlling epidemics like SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome] and bird flu," he told a press conference.

Mr Chen said that, "in a country with a 1.3 billion population, we can't count on hospitals to guarantee the public health." He added that more efforts should be done for preventative measures like basic sanitation and epidemic prevention through vaccination programs.