Chinese parents enraged over faulty vaccinations

BEIJING — Chinese parents were in an uproar Monday after reports that hundreds of thousands of children might have been injected with faulty vaccines, the latest scandal to hit the nation’s troubled drug industry.

The outcry came after a government investigation and news reports showed that a major drug producer in northeast China, Changchun Changsheng, had violated standards in making at least 250,000 doses of vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.

While there have been no reports of deaths or illnesses related to the substandard vaccines, the news has rattled public confidence in the government and rekindled fears that corruption and abuse in the nation’s vast pharmaceutical industry are placing ordinary people at risk. It also has undermined President Xi Jinping’s efforts to restore faith in medicine produced in China at a time when the country is striving to become a leading producer of pharmaceuticals.

After a series of scandals involving tainted food and drugs in China, many parents said they are fed up and called on the government to take more-severe action.

“We always say that kids are the nation’s future, but if we can’t ensure the safety of such a future, what does the future hold for us?” said Huo Xiaoling, 37, who works in marketing in eastern China and has a 1-year-old daughter who received a vaccine made by Changchun Changsheng.

Huo said she would no longer buy Chinesemade vaccines because she could not trust officials to clean up the industry.

On Monday, Xi struggled to contain public anger over the third crisis involving vaccines since 2010. In a statement, he called the events “terrible and shocking” and said the government would “investigate to the very bottom.”

Changchun Changsheng, the fastgrowing company at the center of the scandal, also came under attack. The company, which is based in the northeastern province of Jilin, had more than $235 million in revenue last year, according to Chinese news reports, and it is listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange.

The company’s leaders apologized in a statement Sunday, saying they felt “deeply ashamed.” Under pressure from the government, the company has halted production and recalled its vaccines.