Top news reporter Zheng Xu
Recently, the laboratory of virologist Zhang Yongzhen and his research team was forced to move out within two days by the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center (hereinafter referred to as the Shanghai Public Health Center).
Since April 28, Zhang Yongzhen and his research team have been in front of the laboratory for three days.
At noon on the 30th, the top news reporter visited the site and found that a cordon had been set up around the laboratory building, and there were many security guards.
The top news reporter learned from Professor Zhang Yongzhen's student Wang Hui (pseudonym) that Professor Zhang has been in poor health for the past few days and has only slept for 5 hours in the past few days.
The whole story: The lab closes and the team is caught off guard
According to public information, Zhang Yongzhen is a professor at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Fudan University and the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center affiliated to Fudan University, and a researcher at the Institute of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In January 2020, at the beginning of the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, Zhang Yongzhen and his team quickly analyzed the RNA sequence of the new coronavirus and published the sequence.
The cause of the incident began with information posted on the Internet by several of Zhang Yongzhen's students, such as "the laboratory was forced to close".
On April 25, 2024, the management of the Shanghai Public Health Center suddenly notified Zhang Yongzhen and his research team to move out of the laboratory within two days. On April 27, netizen "Moving every year" said on Weibo that the team was caught off guard due to insufficient communication and resettlement plans. In addition, the team's research projects include a number of biosafety projects such as the new coronavirus, and there may be unknown risks in moving out in a hurry.
In the early morning of April 29, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center issued a statement saying that some laboratories in the hospital need to be renovated recently, and closed construction will be carried out for safety reasons. The hospital provided another office and experimental space for Zhang Yongzhen's team, and the hospital had formulated a relevant resettlement plan in advance and informed it in advance. The fact sheet also mentions that the hospital "always respects researchers and supports them and students in carrying out normal research work."
Shortly after the statement was released, Zhang Yongzhen posted on Weibo that the public health center held an emergency meeting last Thursday and announced that the P3 lab was going to be upgraded and renovated in just one minute, ordering them to move out within two days, and none of the team members present heard any specific arrangements for where to move. On the same day, the team members had already expressed the team's opinions and replies to the leaders of the hospital, and the hospital could not read back.
Zhang Yongzhen also mentioned that the next day, the young researcher of his team, Mr. Chen, returned to Gongwei (the agreement between Mr. Chen and the center expired at the end of June this year) and questioned the vice president in charge of scientific research and the director of the scientific research department, only to be told to move to the laboratory of another professor in the front building, but the professor did not have a laboratory that met their experimental needs, and no relocation plan was given after communicating with the leaders of the institute.
Question: Why is there such a difference in rhetoric between the two sides?
Top news reporters noticed that the "relocation turmoil" seems to be related to the dispute over the cooperation agreement between Zhang Yongzhen and the public health center.
Zhang Yongzhen said in an interview with the media that under the agreement formed between February 25 and March 1, 2018, he was hired as an adjunct professor by the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Fudan University for a period of five years.
Subsequently, in 2020, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center wanted to hire him to work full-time. In that year, the Shanghai Public Health Center and the Institute for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control of the Chinese People's Republic of China reached a consensus and transferred him to the Shanghai Public Health Center to work full-time, which was approved by the Party Committee. At that time, in October 2020, a public announcement of the personnel to be hired by the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center on the official website of the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau showed that Zhang Yongzhen was to be hired, and the position to be hired was a "technical position".
"However, due to various reasons, I have not been able to go through the onboarding procedures. Zhang Yongzhen said. Until October 2022, he was told by the hospital that he would no longer continue to cooperate.
According to previous media reports, a long article posted by Weibo user "Moving Every Year" shows that on the afternoon of October 31, 2022, Shen Yinzhong, former vice president of the Public Health Center (current president), Peng Jiantao, chief of the scientific research section, and Hui Jingjing, chief of the personnel section, informed Zhang Yongzhen that the cooperation agreement between the public health center and Zhang Yongzhen's team expired and would no longer cooperate from November 1. In addition, the arrears of scientific research funds of the public health center, the labor fees due to Zhang Yongzhen and his team members, and scientific research awards stipulated in the agreement have not been implemented after repeated communication.
In addition, in addition to the implementation of the laboratory agreement, the aforementioned Weibo users also posted other content, including the Shanghai Public Health Center's failure to onboard Zhang Yongzhen, which led to his "de facto unemployment" in September 2020, the suspension of scientific research funds for Zhang Yongzhen's team, the team's "obstruction of the scientific research work of the new crown origins", and the removal of another team leader from the post of director of the P3 laboratory, etc.
Fan Xiaohong, the current party secretary of the Shanghai Public Health Center, said in an interview with the media that all the agreements between Zhang Yongzhen's team and the public health center are a framework agreement, which began in October 2017 and has been terminated in October 2022. In other words, he does not have any personnel relationship or cooperation with the public health center, and he was also clearly informed by a letter before, asking him to transfer the relevant means of production. Fan Xiaohong said, "He has apartments, scientific research, offices, etc., and we have given him very strong protection and support, and they should hand it over after it is over." ”
At the same time, the content posted by Zhang Yongzhen and his students on the Internet. Fan Xiaohong said that the information about the conflict between the two parties on the Internet was taken out of context, and the cooperation agreement between the center and Zhang Yongzhen had long expired and the fees had been settled. In layman's terms, Zhang Yongzhen and his team refused to leave the public health center, and forced them to buy and sell.
Source: Interviewee
At noon on April 30, Wang Hui, a student of Zhang Yongzhen, told the top news reporter that the so-called "expiration" was the unilateral early termination of the contract by the hospital, and the outstanding scientific research funds and the prize money for the paper were not paid.
"I haven't paid five insurances and one housing fund to Professor Zhang for two years, you brought people in and didn't join the company and didn't pay five insurances and one housing fund, Professor Zhang lost his security as an old scientist, how can he go?" Wang Hui was with Professor Zhang during the interview, but he said that the professor had been answering the phone and was busy, and had little time for interviews.
On-site investigation: multiple cordons are set up on the periphery
At noon on April 30, top news reporters came to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center located on Caolang Road, Jinshan District, Shanghai.
According to public information, Shanghai Public Health Center, formerly known as Shanghai Infectious Disease Hospital, is a tertiary first-class hospital with a history of 100 years, also known as the Public Health Clinical Center Affiliated to Fudan University. During the new crown epidemic, the Shanghai Public Health Center was a designated hospital for the centralized treatment of new crown pneumonia patients in Shanghai.
Zhang Yongzhen's laboratory is located in a low building on the west side of the public health center, and the door reads "East China Institute of Pathogenic Biology".
On the morning of the 30th, it was rainy in Shanghai, with an average temperature of only about 15 degrees, and the weather was a little wet and cold.
The top news reporter observed that two cordons were set up around Zhang Yongzhen's laboratory, and about six to eight security guards in fluorescent raincoats were on duty on the periphery.
On the periphery, Zhang Yongzhen and his students can be seen still at the entrance of the laboratory. At noon, they pitched their tents to shelter from the rain that was gradually falling.
At the scene, the security guard on duty told reporters that except for the students who are registered in the list, students and outsiders who are not registered cannot enter.
At the scene, the staff of the security department told the top news reporter that Professor Zhang was in good health and fine.
But Wang Hui told Top News that Professor Zhang Yongzhen hadn't slept much for three nights. "He may have slept for five hours in the past three days, and now he is lying at the door under such a great pressure, do you think he can be in good shape?" Wang Hui told reporters that Zhang Yongzhen's family also bought him a quick-acting heart-saving pill, and this morning he also saw Professor Zhang taking medicine.
The top news reporter learned that after this incident, about a dozen student topics will be affected. "If you don't let it in for a few days, the experiment will be stopped, and the biological experiment needs to be continuous, and if you want to continue the project, you can only do it again. Wang Hui said.
On the afternoon of April 30, top news reporters came to the administrative building of Shanghai Public Health Center. Relevant staff told reporters that if they want to interview, they need to contact the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission. At the same time, they will also release news in a timely manner on the official WeChat.