25 March 2016•Update: 04 April 2016
By Mahmut Atanur
BEIJING
Chinese police have apprehended more than 130 people suspected in the selling of more than $47 million in substandard vaccines amid a crackdown on the illegal trade.
State news agency Xinhua reported Friday that 69 criminal cases were led over the sale of improperly stored or expired vaccines in more than 20 provincial-level regions over the last five years.
A senior official of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said Thursday that the illegal vaccines had been sold for 310 million yuan ($47.6 million) -- not for 570 million yuan as reported previously.
Authorities had confiscated 20,000 doses and were still tracking down vaccines, Hua Jingfeng told a joint press conference by the MPS, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) and the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
Officials also revealed that authorities suspect 29 pharmaceutical companies of selling the vaccines and 16 vaccination institutions of buying them.
Li Guoqing of the CFDA said that three firms in eastern Shandong province were stripped of their accreditation and forced to cease operations.
On Wednesday, Xihua reported that 37 suspects had been placed in custody.
The detentions came after police in Shandong announced last month the arrest of a mother and daughter accused of selling expired or improperly stored vaccines since 2011.
Police say the two original suspects bought around 25 types of vaccinations from over 100 pharmaceutical suppliers -- both licensed and unlicensed -- before selling at inflated prices to “illegal agents” and possibly local disease control and prevention centers.
Authorities believe that the illegal vaccines -- including those for more than 10 diseases -- were produced by licensed manufacturers, but were of substandard quality and transported or stored improperly.
The country’s Food and Drug Administration, police and health authorities ordered Monday that drug and health departments track down the manufacturing source of vaccines and ensure that substandard products be removed from the market.
Amid the public health scandal, the China branch of the World Health Organization -- or WHO -- released a notice saying that expired or improperly stored vaccines may be ineffective, but are highly unlikely to result in a toxic reaction.
