Four public health officials in Jinghong, in Yunnan province's Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture, have been punished for disciplinary violations that involve a major vaccine producer, the local discipline watchdog said on Wednesday. 

The prefecture's Commission for Discipline Inspection said Changchun BCHT Biotechnology, a company based in Jilin province that is a major manufacturer of chickenpox vaccines, arranged for the four officials to travel for leisure to Heilongjiang and Hainan provinces between 2013 and 2017, and they claimed reimbursement for their airfares from the center where they worked, in breach of government policy. 

Diao Yinghua, director of the Jinghong Center for Disease Prevention and Control, was given a demerit, as was Yang Zhaolin, head of the center's immunization department.

Two deputy directors of the center, Huang Qiang and Ai Wenzuo, were given warnings.

The four officials have also been ordered to pay back the reimbursed expenses.