• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Vaccines Up to Standard in E. China Vaccine Accident: Test

Posted on: Friday, 15 July 2005, 09:01 CDT

Vaccines up to standard in E. China vaccine accident: test

BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese drug testing authority on Thursday claimed the hepatitis A vaccines in the vaccine accident in east China province has been proved to be genuine and safe.

The China Institute for the Control of Drugs and Biological Products said they checked the packages, labels and appearances of the vaccines and tests proved they were genuine and safe hepatitis A vaccines.

Without official permission, the epidemic prevention station of Dazhuang Town of Anhui organized village doctors to issue hepatitis A vaccines to about 2,500 students in 19 schools in 17 villages on June 16 and 17.

The station purchased 1,000 hepatitis A vaccines from the county epidemic prevention center and 3,000 others from a private medicine dealer named Zhang Peng, who has been detained by police.

One six-year-old girl died and 304 other children suffered from nausea and breathing difficulties shortly after the vaccination, which was thought to have been caused by the vaccines.

After the accident broke out, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged the local authorities to investigate the case and Health Minister Gao Qiang rushed to the scene to guide the investigation.

The Ministry of Health assumed the accident was caused by an allergic reaction to the vaccines or a mass cardiogenic reaction. The vaccine producer, Zhejiang-based Pukang Biotech Co. Ltd, has been banned from providing several batches of vaccines nationwide by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).

Both the ministry and the SFDA have vowed to strengthen vaccine control and discipline health workers since the accident.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

More News in this Category