China vaccine backlash feared after scandal
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www.diecastingpartsupplier.com
2016-04-01 17:05:35
The World Health Organisation has warned that a scandal involving the resale of expired or spoiled vaccines in China could jeopardise the country’s public health gains if parents become distrustful of vaccines.
This month Chinese media reported that a hospital pharmacologist and her daughter were at the centre of a ring that traded spoiled or expired vaccines.
The reports alarmed parents already deeply distrustful of the country’s public safety record, with internet chat rooms full of parents discussing travelling to Hong Kong for child immunisations.
A mother in Fujian province told the Financial Times that she had discovered her son was given vaccines scheduled for four years of age when he was only two. She has decided to stop giving him any more vaccines for now.
“My son did not have an adverse reaction, but the recent controversy has frightened me,” she said.
In the US and elsewhere, distrustful parents forgoing vaccines for their children have in some cases led to the reappearance of diseases such as measles seldom seen a generation ago.
“One of the problems with the current events is the risk that parents’ confidence in immunisation will be diminished and they will decline routine vaccination of their children. This would be a terrible outcome,” wrote Bernhard Schwartl?nder, the WHO’s chief representative in China.
“Urgent action?.?.?.?is needed to restore the public’s trust and confidence in vaccines in China, and to keep China’s children healthy.”
However, a 2008 scandal in which babies died after milk was deliberately adulterated with the chemical compound melamine still reverberates in parents’ willingness to pay large premiums for imported baby formula.
Health officials fear this month’s scandal could trigger a similar backlash against Chinese-manufactured vaccines. “It is apparent that a lot of parents are concerned and fearful,” Lance Rodewald, the WHO’s immunisation programme director in China, said yesterday. “This is a very serious situation, but nothing that we have seen indicates that the vaccines do not start their lives as safe, pure and effective.
“Parents should be confident that their children were not hurt but they may need to revaccinate.” Additional reporting by Luna Lin