How Faulty Vaccines Sparked Consumer Panic in China
A child receives a vaccination shot at a hospital in Huaibei in China's eastern Anhui province on July 26, 2018.
Photographer: /AFPChinese consumers are outraged and panicked by revelations that two drugmakers sold ineffective vaccines. Protesters have picketed government offices and worried parents have run to Hong Kong for foreign-made vaccines. China is trying to contain the backlash, and restore faith in the country’s $122 billion drug industry.
The consumer outcry followed news in July that Chinese health-care company Changsheng Bio-technology Co. was fined by the nation’s drug regulator for having produced 250,000 low-quality vaccines for infants. It was also found to have fabricated production and inspection data for a rabies vaccine as far back as 2014, using expired materials in making some batches. Regulators also found that state-owned Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co., another major vaccine maker, produced more than 400,000 low-quality infant vaccines, according to Xinhua.