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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Opinion -> 
A lesson too costly to pay
    2018-07-30  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

Winton Dong

dht0620@126.com

CHINA’S vaccine safety is in the spotlight again. The chairwoman and 14 other executives from Changchun Changsheng Bio-tech Co. in northeastern Jilin Province, which has been found to have fabricated production records for freeze-dried rabies vaccines for human use, are now under criminal investigation.

Xinhua News Agency reported Friday that a special investigation team sent by the State Council found that Changsheng had fabricated records to cover up illegal production methods, mixed several batches of vaccine fluid and purified them in order to reduce costs, and used some of the vaccine liquid that was past its shelf life. Local police have found 60 computer hard disks that the company had intended to destroy.

Earlier Changsheng said in a statement: “We feel very guilty about what has happened and apologize to all persons vaccinated and investors.” The company further added that it will learn a lesson from the scandal.

A public apology is far from enough to dispel distrust of the people, and this is a lesson too costly to pay since vaccines are a matter of life and death, and especially concern the health and future of children. Given that rabies is a disease with a fatality rate of nearly 100 percent if not properly and promptly handled, administering substandard rabies vaccinations is almost equal to killing people. It is a strong satire that in the Chinese language, “Changsheng” means “longevity.” However, if wanton and illegal enterprises like Changsheng can live long, how can the Chinese people live long?

It is very possible that this incident could become a public health crisis should it fail to be handled in a reasonable and transparent manner. State media and public opinion nationwide are calling loudly for stronger supervision of vaccine quality control and tougher punishment for violators. In their instructions, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang also ordered a thorough investigation into the case and serious penalties for those found accountable.

The China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) said that the batch of substandard rabies vaccines involved has not been put on the market and had been effectively controlled. Inspectors from the administration have also been stationing at the company for further investigation. Despite the fact that this batch of substandard vaccines has been contained, it is natural for people to wonder how many such inferior vaccines have been injected before. What side effects they will bring? What measures will the country take to answer the concerns of the public and revaccinate children who have been injected with substandard vaccines? And more importantly, how can they rebuild the people’s rational attitude toward immunization in the future?

Actually, this is not the first time that Changsheng has challenged the moral bottom line and made substandard products. In 2017, the manufacturer was probed for substandard DTaP vaccines, which protects young children from three infectious diseases — diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. Compared with the rabies vaccine, which is not so frequently used, DTaP vaccine is more widely used because the vaccination is part of China’s national immunization program and compulsory for all infants in the country.

According to media reports, a total of 253,338 doses of substandard DTaP vaccines produced by Changsheng were sold to Shandong Province last year. For such a blatant violation of law and such a large amount of shoddy vaccines, Jilin Provincial Food and Drug Administration only fined the company 3.44 million yuan (US$508,000). Compared with its annual sales income of more than 1.5 billion yuan and its gross profit as high as 92 percent last year, 3.44 million yuan is insignificant.

It is obvious that lenient punishment has spurred Changsheng to go further in the wrong way to be a recidivist this time. It is also obvious that lenient punishment cannot serve as a warning to prevent other companies from following suit. Besides Changsheng, the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products in Hubei Province has also been found to have sold 400,520 doses of substandard DTaP vaccines to Hebei Province and Chongqing.

Various vaccine scandals have also revealed loopholes in governmental supervision. How can these problematic companies and their substandard products get the green light and assume a dominant position in the Chinese market for so many years? Even if Changsheng is severely punished this time, there will be no cure to China’s vaccine industry if we cannot find the real malady in the supply chain. Concerning the fact that law-breaking enterprises like Changsheng are surviving and thriving in China, we cannot help but ask whether the relations are clean between vaccine producers and some government officials in charge of the industry.

Transparency is the best way to stop worries. The Central Government has acted quickly by launching a high-level investigation. In order to revamp the country’s vaccine production, the government should publish the full results of the investigation as soon as possible and hold all perpetrators accountable no matter who was involved.

(The author is the editor-in-chief of the Shenzhen Daily with a Ph.D. from the Journalism and Communication School of Wuhan University.)

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