Medical experts stress safety of Chinese vaccines following scandal

Medical experts have stressed the safety of Chinese vaccines and encouraged the public to continue to receive immunizations following a vaccine scandal that has triggered public outrage.

"The vaccines in the market are stable and controllable in terms of their safety and effectiveness," said Wang Junzhi, member of the Expert Committee on Biological Standardization of the World Health Organization (WHO).

"China has set up a national management system that is up to WHO standards to ensure the safety of its vaccines," he said.

Initially, Chinese regulators only conducted examinations of finished vaccines. However, the quality control system has gradually evolved to cover the entire process from vaccine design and production to the finished product, according to Wang.

Regulators have also conducted sample inspections of vaccines circulating in the market, the expert said.

In addition to allowing only authorized bodies to provide raw materials, produce and distribute vaccines, China has also introduced the batch release system to ensure vaccine safety, said Yang Xiaoming, chief scientist of the vaccine project under the 863 program, a national government-funded high-tech development initiative.

Under the system, which has covered all vaccine products since 2006, regulators conduct compulsory inspection and approval of each batch of vaccines before they leave factories. Items that fail inspection or approval shall not be allowed to be be sold or imported.

"The batch release system gears the vaccines to international standards," Yang said.

A sign of endorsement of the quality and management system of Chinese vaccines, China is now lining up vaccines for WHO prequalification, Wang said.

At present, the Henan-based Hualan Biological Bacterin Co. Ltd, and the Chengdu subsidiary of China National Biotec Group have been approved by the WHO for their seasonal flu vaccine and Japanese encephalitis vaccine respectively, making them eligible for purchase by the United Nations.

It was revealed earlier this month that improperly stored vaccines worth tens of millions of U.S. dollars had been sold illegally in 20 provincial-level regions since 2011. More than 130 people have been apprehended after they were implicated in the high-profile vaccine scandal.

Wang called for faith in Chinese vaccines and encouraged the public to continue inoculations despite the scandal. "It's more effective and cheaper to prevent a disease than treat it." Endi