Profiteers will face harsh penalties, health minister warns
Officials who put profits before public health and safety will feel the full force of the law, Minister of Health Gao Qiang promised yesterday after the spoiled vaccine scandal that left one girl dead in Anhui province .
Mr Gao told cadres in Xiuzhou city that the incident in Dazhuang township was a lesson for people and health officials around the country. Dazhuang is under the administration of Xiuzhou.
'Health departments are supposed to follow our country's laws and regulations seriously and do a good job in fighting diseases,' he said. 'Profit-making has no place in all that.
'We will never allow any bodies involved in inoculation work to put greed above public health - they will not escape punishment.'
It was revealed at the weekend that four-year-old Dazhuang girl Li Wei died after being injected with a spoiled hepatitis A vaccine. Xinhua reported that 259 of the 2,500 other students who received the vaccine remained in hospital yesterday.
It was also reported that the State Food and Drug Administration issued an urgent circular reminding all health units not to use the hepatitis vaccine made by the Zhejiang Pukang Biotech Co, which has been blamed for the scandal.