别让人心之疫，伤了祖国幼苗丨Transparency will ease panic over vaccine scandal
The State Drug Administration has launched an investigation of Changchun Changsheng Bio-tech Co, after it was discovered to have fabricated production records for freeze-dried rabies vaccines that were designed for human use.
☞ Investigation starts on new vaccine scandal
Those suspected of violating the law will have their cases transferred to public security departments, the authority said on Sunday.
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In an instruction published on the State Council's website on Sunday, Premier Li Keqiang said that a moral line had been crossed, adding that the nation deserves a clear explanation.
▲ File Photo
Now, China Daily shares with its readers an editorial and commentary from two experts.
China Daily Editorial
The company (Changsheng Bio-tech) is already being fined over substandard production, uncovered in 2017, of its DPT vaccine.
It is therefore natural for people to question what the company has done and whether the vaccines it has produced can be labeled as "fake drugs" according to the law. They also have enough reason to ask whether the company has tampered with other vaccines it has produced in order to make more profits.
It is obvious that this incident could become a public health crisis should it not be handled in a reasonable and transparent manner.
The government should launch an investigation into the case, not only about how the company tampered with the vaccines but also about how the loopholes in supervision have allowed problematic vaccines into the market. And the government needs to act as soon as possible to let the public know it is resolved to address the issue and will punish any wrongdoers without mercy.
Given social media's power in spreading rumors and alarm about anything, transparency and the truth are the most effective way to keep people's worries at bay. The authorities need to release whatever information they know about the incident to the public as soon as possible.
The whole truth should include whether the vaccine makers have done anything wrong with the vaccines in order to make more profits and whether they have conspired with any bad apples in the related supervision department for substandard vaccines to get a green light.
It is not just to pacify the public in the wake of this particular incident. It is also for a thorough overhaul of the industry as vaccines are directly related to people's health, particularly children.
Those who dare to challenge the bottom line and make substandard or even fake vaccines need to receive the heaviest penalties according to the law. The punishment of any held accountable in this incident should mark the beginning of a healthy vaccine industry.
Xiu Minghe
a medical-affairs lawyer at the Beijing-based Jingsh Law Firm
The SDA said those suspected of violating laws will be transferred to public security departments. That expression strictly follows legal procedures, according to which if administrative agencies find clues about possible crimes they should transfer the cases to the police for a further probe. If the clues lead to solid evidence, the case should be handed further to the procuratorate, which will decide whether to take the suspects to court.
According to the Drug Administration Law, those producing and selling "junk drugs" are considered guilty only if the substance they produced and sold does actual harm to human health. Therefore, whether anyone will face criminal charges in the vaccine crisis depends on the results of any future probes.
If the company or any of its staff do face criminal charges in the future, the court might have sufficient reason to consider levying heavier penalties because the company was found to have produced junk drugs last October. In other words, it would have broken the law twice within one year, which generally leads to heavier penalties from the courts.
That leads to another question, namely why the Jilin Provincial Drug Administration might have failed in its duty. It found Changsheng had broken the law in October, but did not punish it until July 20, 264 days later. The law requires a drug administration to levy penalties within seven days of finding the facts or 15 days of getting test results, and a probe is needed to know whether Jilin PDA broke the law.
Wu Hao
a doctor at Beijing You'an Hospital
As the incident started to make a buzz online, many parents expressed concerns about their children, who had been injected with DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus) vaccines. They asked what to do.
The company's DPT vaccines have been found to be "junk drugs" that do not contain enough effective ingredients. That might possibly lead to ineffective vaccination, in which the child receiving the injection fails to get any antibodies. But that only applies to some of the affected children, not all.
So my advice to parents is to consult local disease control centers and let the professionals see their children, then decide whether to let the children get vaccinated again. Everyone's body is different so the decision must be made only after the children have been seen by a health professional.
I hope this incident won't make people disillusioned with vaccination, which remains one of the most effective ways of preventing disease. This issue was caused by certain companies, not the vaccination procedure itself.
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