China probes vaccines after news report of deaths, illnesses in northern province

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China probes vaccines after child deaths reported

BEIJING — China’s Health Ministry is investigating the safety of inoculations in a northern province after a report that defective vaccines possibly killed four children and seriously sickened dozens.

The ministry urged health authorities in Shanxi province to promptly report any abnormal reactions triggered by vaccines, saying “the ministry attaches great importance to this issue and will carry out an investigation immediately,” according to a statement posted on its Web site late Wednesday.

The China Economic Times newspaper reported Wednesday that vaccines for encephalitis, hepatitis B, rabies and other diseases administered by government-run clinics were possibly linked to the deaths of four children in 2008 and 2009 and the sickening of at least 74 others in the province.

The newspaper said the four children who died were aged between 8 months and 3 years, and each had convulsions and fever shortly after being vaccinated. Doctors were unable to diagnose their illnesses before the children died.

Other children developed major illnesses such as encephalitis, with some becoming crippled, the report said.

The newspaper cited a former staffer at the provincial center for disease prevention and control as saying the problem could be linked to improper storage: The vaccines were exposed to heat when refrigeration was required.

The Shanxi provincial health bureau said in a statement posted on its Web site Wednesday that the news report was “basically untrue.”

But the China Economic Times published an editorial Thursday saying its report was the result of a six-month investigation backed up by medical records and face-to-face interviews.

The Health Ministry said it had investigated the vaccines in 2008 but that tests on samples had showed the vaccines met standards. Its statement didn’t give details about why it investigated at the time.

China’s drug industry is lucrative but poorly regulated. Chinese manufacturers and other players along the drug supply chain have been blamed in recent years for deaths linked to counterfeit or shoddy medications at home and abroad.