Viral message ignites public anger in China's vaccine scandal

SCANDAL OF CHINESE VACCINES. A container used for clinical waste is seen in a private clinic that carries out vaccinations in Hong Kong on July 24, 2018. Photo by Anthony Wallace / AFP

BEIJING, China – The latest security alert on Chinese products bursts on public awareness The test of corruption in the pharmaceutical industry has become a sensation on the internet, exposing widespread anger and mistrust after a series of scandals.

The fury of the dubious allegations of a major vaccine producer broke the already fragile trust in regulators and illustrated growing frustrations. China's increasingly sophisticated consumers

Changchun Pharmaceutical Company Changsheng Biotechnology manufactured disks and was forced to stop making rabies vaccines more than a week ago

. a viral trial alleging decades of corporate misconduct, including the corruption of officials at

The origin and veracity of this mysterious post have not been verified, but they have triggered a game of cat and mouse as China's aggressive censors jostled to prevent its spread

. was done. Millions of angry users have shared the trial and other information about product safety issues in a rare public issue of a tricky national issue.

The Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) said last week that the problematic rabies vaccine had not left the Changsheng factory, but the company admitted that it had shipped a separate vaccine of inferior quality.

This vaccine against diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus (DPT) was found by regulators to fail quality standards – but the company revealed that she was selling 250,000 doses to the province of Shandong last year.

As the pressure mounted, other revelations emerged. Authorities in the northern province of Hebei said on Monday that nearly 150,000 people had received substandard DTP vaccines manufactured by another company, Wuhan Institute of Biological Products.

Problems revived fears "I no longer trust vaccines here," said a woman who only gave her last name to AFP while she was waiting with his little girl in a pediatric clinic in Beijing on Tuesday. 19659006] Zhou said that she was willing to pay for imported products rather than accept those offered for free by the government.

Hong Kong clinics reported seeing an increase in demand for childhood vaccines

The government went into damage control, with the CFDA saying that 39, there was "absolutely no need" for foreign vaccines because China already has a "complete" system to ensure

Authorities announced a series of investigations and promised that chiefs would do any negligence.

As a sign of high-level discomfort, President Xi Jinping – on a trip to Africa – weighed Monday, calling the actions of the vaccination society "vile in nature and shocking", according to state media .

One of the reasons product safety is an explosive issue is that children have been among the worst victims of Chinese scandals in the last decade, including a huge scandal of milk and breast milk contaminated with chemical melamine. . Adulteration killed six infants and left tens of thousands of people hospitalized, shaking China's dairy sector and resulting in a regulatory overhaul

"This time, it is taking care of babies, and volume is a C & # 39; s why people care about it ,? said Scarlett Pong, president of the Hong Kong Pharmaceutical Society, where wealthier Chinese parents often travel to gain access to foreign drugs.

Experts say the Chinese authorities are gradually improving supervision, but the vastness and lack of openness of the country mean that it will remain a long-term battle.

"I think that everyone will be the political leader in the future, The world is much more open now, the citizens know many things, "said Pong.

Deja vu

The CFDA has announced last Sunday that it Jilin Province, where the company is based, announced on Tuesday that it would also open an investigation into the corruption of the government officials involved.

But many jaded consumers have already heard it before.

"The problem is who does the investigation," said an angry commentator on the Twitter-type Weibo microblogging platform

. Following a major pre-vaccine alert in 2016, the authorities detained more than 200 people, promising to plug what Premier Li Keqiang described at the time as "numerous regulatory loopholes".

But some social media users have drawn attention this week to Sun Xianze, head of food security at the 2008 milk scandal.

Sun was later promoted to deputy director of the CFDA, in charge of drug safety, where he worked until February. – Rappler.com