PROSECUTORS have stepped in to probe into an illegal vaccine production case, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said Tuesday.

The Municipal People’s Procuratorate of Changchun City in Jilin Province set up a special team Monday to work with the police to probe the vaccine production of Changchun Changsheng Life Sciences Limited (Changchun Changsheng).

The prosecutors are aiming to discover the harm on the public interests caused by the relevant vaccines and if relevant government departments properly did their jobs. They will also cooperate with a State Council investigation into the case.

Also on Tuesday, the Provincial People’s Procuratorate of Shandong began an investigation with a focus on DPT vaccines produced by Changchun Changsheng.

DPT refers to a combination of vaccines against three infectious diseases: diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus.

In October 2017, a batch of DPT vaccines produced by the company was found to be defective and the production of the vaccines was suspended since then, according to an official with the CFDA.

Meanwhile, help is offered to parents concerned about whether the vaccines their children received are involved in the scandals.

Ali Health, Alibaba’s medical health division, released an online app Tuesday to trace a vaccine’s identity code, production information and expiration date.

Users can find the app with the key words “vaccine check” in Alibaba’s Taobao online shopping platform or Alipay system.

Detailed information about the dose will be shown after entering the vaccine information. If a dose is on the vaccine recall list, the app will show users a red alarm symbol with the recall information.

“I hope more positive changes will be witnessed to improve vaccine safety in China. Apart from a more strict inspection system and tougher punishment, transparency of inspection results is also needed,” said Tao Lina, a medical expert from the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“If the quality inspection data is available for the public and helps people make their own choice among different companies, it will boost healthy competition in the market,” Tao said. (Xinhua)