China’s drug regulator said it has launched a nationwide inspection of vaccine production as authorities step up the response to a fraud case that has reignited public fears over the safety of the nation’s medicines.
The Chinese State Drug Administration said in an announcement issued late on Wednesday that it had dispatched inspection teams “to thoroughly investigate the whole process and entire chain of vaccine production of all vaccine producers.”
The move comes as authorities rush to bolster public confidence in the nation’s vaccines, which have been hit by repeated questions about safety and reliability over the years.
China’s latest product-safety scare emerged more than a week ago with news that major pharmaceutical manufacturer Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology had fabricated records and was ordered to cease production of rabies vaccines.
The case leaped to the top of the national agenda last weekend as parents and other consumers vented their anger and frustration at manufacturers and the regulators tasked with supervising them.
The government said the problematic rabies vaccine did not leave Changsheng’s factory and was not put on sale, but anger and fear over the failures were quickly exacerbated by additional revelations: the company’s vaccine for diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT) had also failed to meet quality standards, with 250,000 doses sold to Shandong Province last year.
Further damaging public confidence, authorities in Hebei Province on Monday announced that nearly 150,000 people had received sub-standard DPT vaccines made by another firm, Wuhan Institute of Biological Products.
The problems have rekindled already deep fears over domestically made medicines and driven worried parents online to swap information on obtaining imported vaccines, with some vowing not to give their children Chinese-made drugs.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — on a trip to Africa — weighed in earlier this week by calling the vaccine company’s actions “vile in nature and shocking,” state media reported.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number