Shandong CDC traces over 200,000 kids who received substandard vaccine

Health authorities in Shandong province have traced all 252,600 doses of the substandard DTaP vaccine and reported no further cases of abnormal reactions in children who received the drug, according to Qilu Evening News.

Hospitals and clinics stopped using the vaccine — which inoculates against diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis (or whooping cough) — in November, when the national drug regulator said tests had shown it was ineffective, the paper quoted the Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention as saying.

The vaccine is covered by China’s immunization plan and is mandatory for children.

Authorities have identified every child inoculated using the drug as well as located all unused doses, the Shandong CDC said.

Almost 250,000 doses of the substandard vaccine — made by Changchun Changsheng Bio-tech Co, in Changchun, Jilin province — had been used on children in eight Shandong cities, including the capital Jinan, the CDC said.

It added that health authorities had arranged for all 215,184 children affected to receive qualified vaccines made by other companies, with 97 already completing the procedure.

These vaccines may not be effective in immunization, but they will not endanger the children’s health, according to the State Drug Administration.

The national regulator placed Changchun Changsheng Bio-tech Co under investigation last week on suspicion the company had fudged production records for its rabies vaccine. The administration said no doses of the suspect vaccine had entered the market.

Chinese authorities also failed eight batches of a vaccine produced by Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical company, for low quality standards last year. The vaccine aims to prevent five diseases, including diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus.