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CHINA-HEALTH-VACCINES
China mulls $720,000 fine for faking vaccine tests after scandal
BEIJING, Nov 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Chinese vaccine manufacturers who
falsify test results or break other rules could be fined up to $720,000 under
a new law proposed after a scandal that fulled public fears over domestically
made medicine.
The law would regulate areas including production, distribution and use of
vaccines, according to a draft posted Sunday on the website of China’s market
regulator.
The country was earlier this year rocked by a scandal that saw a
manufacturer of rabies vaccines fabricating records.
While authorities say the affected vaccines did not enter the market, the
case provoked outrage from consumers fed up with recurring product safety
scandals, particularly in pharmaceuticals.
Under the proposed law, those who flout the rules can be fined up to 5.0
million yuan ($720,000) for offences including submitting false test results,
not recalling problematic batches and “other serious illegal acts”.
“Those who participate in illegal behaviour, shield or connive with
violators, hide the facts through fabrication, or impede investigation will
receive severe punishment,” the draft said.
This is the first time a law has explicitly targeted vaccines, which were
previously covered by regulations controlling medicine.
The authorities last month slapped the Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology
company with a massive $1.3 billion in penalties over the rabies vaccine
scandal.
The firm’s chairwoman and 14 other people were arrested in connection with
the affair in July while more than a dozen national, provincial and local
officials were sacked, including several senior officials from the drug
regulatory agency.
China is regularly hit by scandals involving sub-par or toxic food, drugs
and other products, despite repeated promises by the government to address
the problem.
After the latest case came to light, the authorities announced a nationwide
inspection of laboratories producing vaccines.
But many Chinese parents say they no longer have confidence in the
medicines administered to their children.
During the height of the scandal, clinics in Hong Kong saw a run on their
vaccine stocks by worried parents from the mainland.
President Xi Jinping described the vaccine debacle as “vile” and “shocking”
in July while Premier Li Keqiang said the latest case had crossed a “line of
human ethics”.
In August, India ordered a recall of rabies vaccines made by Changchun
Changsheng and complained that it only found out about possible problems
through media reports.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1553 hrs