Harsh penalties vowed in vaccine case

Firms and individuals involved subject to enormous fines and market ban

BEIJING: The State Council has vowed harsh penalties – including enormous fines – for companies and individuals involved in the country’s vaccine scandal, which unleashed a huge public outcry.

Based on investigation results and the law, companies and indi- viduals involved in the case will be subject to harsh penalties and judicial bodies will decide on criminal penalties for those found to have committed crimes, the State Council decided at an executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Monday.

Those found to have committed wrongdoing will also be expelled from the market and banned from operations related to drug production, according to a decision at the meeting, which also heard a report of the State Council investigation group regarding the illegal production of vaccines by Changchun Changsheng Bio-tech Co, a major vaccine producer in China.

The investigation group found the Changchun company engaged in grave illegal actions during the production of rabies vaccine for human use, such as severely violating national pharmaceutical standards and quality management norms for drug production, accord- ing to a statement released after the meeting.

Other misconduct included changing production techniques without authorisation, fabricating production and inspection records and destruction of evidence, the statement said.