Punishments meted out in Shandong vaccine scandal

The head of the Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention has been removed from his duties because of a case of substandard vaccines, according to information posted on Sunday on the website of the Shandong Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Shandong Provincial Supervisory Commission.

Bi Zhenqiang, the director of the center, is also the subject of an investigation carried out by the province’s discipline and supervisory commissions because he is involved with other activities that violate the law and disciplinary standards, it said.

Seven other Shandong officials have also been held accountable in the case, with five of them dismissed, including the deputy head of the Shandong Health and Family Planning Commission and the deputy head of the Food and Drug Administration.

Of the substandard vaccines produced by Changchun Changsheng Bio-tech Co, doses from one batch of 252,600 were all sold within the province. Another 247,200 doses from another batch were sold in Shandong and Anhui provinces. The substandard vaccines triggered widespread public outrage.

President Xi Jinping demanded a thorough investigation into the country’s latest vaccine scandal and promised severe punishment for those accountable after the vaccine problem was exposed in July.

More than 40 government officials in Jilin province, where the Changchun Changsheng Bio-tech Co is located, including seven at the provincial level, were held accountable in August in the case.