Mixed feelings about scandal

"The recent scandal makes me confused. I do not know who I should trust, the government or the media," Qiao Fengzhi, the grandmother of 14-month-old Jian Jian, said while walking out of the Yingze district disease prevention and control station in downtown Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi Province.

"We will not allow my grandson to be inoculated before the authority releases the final investigation result," the 67-year-old said.

Fewer people came to receive vaccinations this week at the Taiyuan center for disease control and prevention (CDC) due to the ongoing scandal, said a doctor with the center's vaccination injection unit.

Zhai Wei, a resident of neighboring Xinzhou City, said she could not make up her mind whether to proceed with vaccinations for her 8-month-old daughter, who has already been vaccinated for tuberculosis, hepatitis B, measles, epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis and polio, in addition to a triple shot for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.

"I don't know what to do. To allow the baby to receive shots could protect her from possible diseases, but it could also risk her health as the safety of vaccines still has yet to be ensured," she said.

The vaccine scandal also affected people in other parts of the country, with parents becoming hesitant about their children receiving shots in Guangzhou, Shenyang, Hefei, Hainan and Ningbo, local media reported.

The Ministry of Health, the nation's top health authority, issued a handful of notices defending both the quality and safety of vaccines manufactured in China, as well as encouraging the public to stick to the vaccination program, which is the most efficient way to prevent infectious diseases.

The notices said no vaccine is entirely risk free and adverse reactions, which are usually mild and temporary, are common, though with a low rate of occurrence.

According to the Shanxi vaccination monitoring networks, about 10 million Shanxi residents receive vaccinations every year. There were 238 suspected adverse reactions reported from 2008 to 2009 and more than 20 people received compensation in recent years, Zhai Rufang, immunization division chief of the provincial CDC, was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as having said.

(China Daily March 30, 2010)