Wang Yuanyuan
NO medical institution or department in Shenzhen has been found to be using fake rabies vaccine, officials with the city’s center for disease control and prevention (CDC) said yesterday.
Fake vaccine for human use was produced by Dalian Jingang Biology Production Co. Ltd. in Liaoning Province, according to earlier reports. All the rabies vaccine used in the city, however, was purchased by the provincial CDC, and none had been produced by the Dalian company, said Jiang Lijuan with the publicity department of the Shenzhen CDC.
The CDC also checked all the city’s medical institutions and departments, including public and private clinics, and none was found to be using the fake vaccine.
Rabies vaccine is a second-level vaccine in Shenzhen. First-level vaccines include 11 free vaccines for 12 diseases such as measles and hepatitis B. Vaccines falling into the second level are paid for by customers.
The drug producer in Dalian was found to have illegally added nucleic acid in the vaccine to reduce costs, and nearly 320,000 contaminated vials had to be recalled, according to earlier reports.
At present, there are still 33,400 vials that haven’t been found, and the State Food and Drug Administration believes that most of them have already been used. All those people injected with the vaccine risk being infected with rabies in the future, based on their health conditions, drug officials said.
Three people, including the general manager of the company, Wang Quanfeng, had been detained after the scandal.