Provincial health agencies ordered to purchase vaccines
Over 350 officials have been either demoted or fired for their alleged involvement in the sale of improperly stored or expired vaccines, the State Council said Wednesday.
So far, 192 criminal cases have been filed and 202 people detained over the scandal. Those responsible at the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) and National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) as well as 17 provincial-level authorities will be held accountable for Shandong's vaccine scandal, according to a decision made at a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.
A large quantity of improperly stored or expired vaccines worth 310 million yuan ($47.8 million) had allegedly been sold in more than 20 provincial-level regions since 2011. Instead of mandatory vaccines, the vaccines belong to a secondary category of vaccinations, which are voluntary for diseases like polio, mumps, rabies and hepatitis B.
The State Council decision said vaccine quality and safety are closely related to people's lives and health, especially children, and is "a red line that cannot be crossed." Though China's vaccine system is safe in general, problems should be dealt with seriously once they surface.
The scandal has a large-scale impact and has severely violated laws. It has also exposed lax vaccine supervision and inaction of some officials, the decision added, pledging to tighten supervision and the regulatory system with better record-keeping for the production and storage of vaccines, and tougher penalties for violators.
The second category of vaccines will also be included in the provincial-level procurement, banning wholesale pharmaceutical companies from running a vaccine business, according to the State Council.
During a press conference on Wednesday jointly conducted by the CFDA and NHFPC, disease prevention and control bodies at the provincial level will be responsible for purchasing the secondary category of vaccinations, and no vaccination institutions are allowed to directly purchase from producers. No institution or person is allowed to sell vaccines online or give vaccines for free.
"The vaccine scandal has badly affected vaccinations in China as a whole, leading to some reluctance in receiving injections, which will be disastrous. Penalties against related officials and new measures can help restore public faith in vaccines," Liu Dawei, a chief physician at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Global Times.
Enhance supervision over the circulation of vaccines is a welcome development, which has shown some loopholes, Liu noted, stressing that China has a relatively strict standard on vaccine production that can guarantee its quality.
Twenty-nine pharmaceutical companies are suspected of being involved in selling the illegal vaccines, Xinhua reported.
