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The latest crisis is the third involving vaccines in China since 2010. In order to restore confidence in the vast Chinese pharmaceutical industry, President Xi Jinping has ordered a national survey of vaccine producers.
BEIJING – More than two dozen Chinese parents, shouting "Justice for Victims," gathered in front of a government building Monday in Beijing to protest a vaccine scandal that has become one of the most most visible public health in China in recent years.
reports that hundreds of thousands of children across China have received injections of vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.
While the children appear to be unscathed, the episode undermined President Xi Jinping's vision of a China pledge to eliminate corruption and abuse in the nation's food and drug industries .
Demonstrators, Standing Outside Nat's Offices According to interviews with parents and images posted on social networks, the Ionic Health Commission called for tighter monitoring of the community. Chinese pharmaceutical industry. Holding a banner showing pictures of children, protesters rejected assurances given by Chinese leaders that the problem was under control.
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"The problem is not solved," said He Fangmei, the mother of a 2-year-old girl, in a phone interview after the protest. "The latest crisis is the third one involving vaccines in China since 2010. In order to restore confidence in the vast Chinese pharmaceutical industry, Xi has ordered a national survey of vaccine producers."
Police announced Sunday its intention to arrest 18 employees of the vaccine producer at the center of the scandal, Changchun Changsheng, in northeastern China, including the president, Gao Junfang
. vaccines against diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus, and altered data on the production of an anti-rabies vaccine. Although vaccines are not harmful, say the officials, they have left children at risk of contracting diseases against which they should have been protected.
Another company involved in the scandal, Wuhan Institute of Organic Products of Central China, is Although regulators have forced the Institute of Organic Products of Wuhan to pay a fine, many parents fear that the authorities did not further punish the company because of its links with the government. [19659003] Public health experts say that the problems faced by the two companies could lead to a more general response against vaccines in China, where an aggressive vaccination effort helped eliminate polio and significantly reduce the spread of the disease. other diseases.
On Monday, coupled with a wave of anger over social media in recent days, suggested that many parents had doubts about allowing their children to receive vaccines made in China.
Dr. Gauden Galea, the representative of the World Health Organization in China, said the fact that the defective vaccines had been discovered by investigators of the Food and Drug Administration of China showed that the country's regulatory system worked. But he said that the government, which often privileges secrecy in investigations, should be transparent to restore faith in vaccinations.
"They have to ask and answer more questions than people ask to gain their trust" Monday's protests were an unusual challenge for the government, which has deployed censors to limit discussion of the vaccine crisis. line.
Xi, China's most powerful leader for decades, sought to justify his top down government with promises of higher standards of living. But analysts say that incidents like the turmoil of the vaccine could undermine its credibility.
Merriden Varrall, expert in China at the Lowy Institute, a research organization in Australia, said that many Chinese families had only one child.
"How is this going on in a China where people are said to be really rejuvenating?" She said. "Scandals like this are just not going to be accepted as such."
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