Deadly vaccines: 570 million yuan of medication ‘illegally sold in China poses risk to users’ lives’: authorities
Officials urged to trace all the children and adults in 18 provinces that used the suspect vaccines to give them the correct drugs – after mother and daughter arrested on suspicion of illegally trade since 2010
A mother and daughter have allegedly illegally sold vaccines worth 570 million yuan (HK$680,000) in China since early 2010 that were not adequately refrigerated, which could leave them ineffective and put the lives of people using them at risk, a Chinese news website reported on Friday.
Officials have been urged to trace all the people – both adults and children across 18 provinces and provincial-level cities – who might have used the suspect vaccines to ensure they receive the correct medication and are also compensated, Thepaper.cn reported.
This [alleged case amounts to an act of] homicide
The mother, named in the report as Pang, who is a former doctor, and her daughter, Sun, a medical school graduate, have been detained on suspicion of illegally selling 25 different types of vaccine, the report said.
The two suspects had been charged with illegal business operations and are still awaiting trial according to the report.
Thepaper.cn said Pang, 47, had once worked as a doctor at a public hospital in Heze city, Shandong province.
However, Pang had allegedly continued to sell vaccines illegally until she was detained by police last year, the report said.
Authorities said they could not work out exactly how much vaccine had allegedly been sold by the mother and daughter.
The Food and Drug Administration in Jinan has sent out letters to 20 cities, calling for investigations to be coordinated to help verify the destinations of the vaccines.
All are non-mandatory vaccines, meaning that people can choose to get these vaccinations voluntarily at their own expense.
“This [alleged case amounts to an act of] homicide,” Wang Yuedan, deputy head of the immunology department at Peking University’s medical school was quoted as saying.
Vaccines transported without being adequately refrigerated between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius could lose their effectiveness, Wang said.
Patients that had contracted serious infectious diseases, such as rabies, could die after receiving ineffective vaccinations, she said.
Wang urged the authorities to trace all the victims of the suspect vaccines to ensure they were given proper vaccinations and also compensation.
The suspects had reportedly bought the vaccines from about 70 salesmen at vaccine companies as well as illegal vendors in 10 provinces and cities, such as Shaanxi, Chongqing and Jilin, the police said.
