Society

Vaccine probe: Ex-health chief accused of graft

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-23 03:49

TAIYUAN: The latest probe into a vaccine scandal in north China's Shanxi Province showed violation of rules by the provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the vaccine producer, an official said Monday.

Ju Xianhua, deputy secretary general of the provincial government, said at a press conference that the former director of the provincial CDC, Li Wenyuan, violated rules while cooperating with the vaccine producer, Beijing Huawei Company, and was blamed for embezzling 270,000 yuan from the company's 500,000 yuan safety guarantee deposit.

Li is no longer head of the provincial CDC since the end of last year and an investigation against him is going on, said Ju.

Ju said the government will investigate all vaccine cases reported by the public and release the results as soon as possible.

On March 17, the Beijing based China Economic Times run by the Development Research Center of the State Council reported, citing Chen Tao'an, a whistleblower who worked with the Shanxi CDC in 2007, that nearly 100 children had died or fell ill in Shanxi after taking shots of the vaccine.

The report named 15 children out of 78 that received vaccines including encephalitis, hepatitis B and rabies at different times. Four children died between 2007 and 2008, and 74 were sickened, according to the report.

The report said that Shanxi Province had been selling problematic vaccines since 2006, causing viral encephalitis after vaccination.

The report accused the provincial CDC of exposing vaccines to heat in summer causing quality problems.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) and Shanxi Provincial Health Department both launched investigations into the case after media exposure.