As China's vaccine scandal unfolds, anxious parents turn to Hong Kong to get children vaccinated

When Shenzhen mother Emily Liu heard about the latest vaccine scandal over the weekend, the first thing she did was make an appointment for Monday at her clinic over the border.

The 33-year-old was worried there would be a huge rush of mainlander Chinese parents taking their children to Hong Kong to get vaccinated, and that it could push up the price – or worse, lead to a vaccine shortage.

By midday on Monday, she was in Sheung Shui, just over the border in Hong Kong, with her five-year-old boy. By 4pm, they were back in Shenzhen after her son had been given a booster shot of a four-in-one vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio.

“I feel a bit ashamed about crossing the border to snap up a vaccine, and I totally understand if Hong Kong people resent us for doing it, but it’s just what I’ve got to do as a mother,” Liu said.

Five years ago, mainland Chinese parents were flocking to the city to buy supplies of infant milk formula, resulting in shortages that saw the introduction of a two-tin export restriction. Now, Hong Kong – where all vaccines for children are imported foreign brands – is again being seen by parents like Liu as a place to find safe products as another public health scare unfolds.

Two vaccine makers – Changchun Changsheng Bio-technology and the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products – have been found selling ineffective DPT (diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus) vaccines that were given to children as young as three months old under government health programmes in Chongqing, Shandong and Hebei provinces. Fifteen executives from Changsheng Bio-tech, including chairwoman Gao Junfang, have been placed under criminal detention, Changchun police said on Tuesday evening.