No immunity for vaccine profiteers

On Saturday, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the nation's top legislature, adopted the country's first national law on vaccine management, which will come into effect on Dec 1. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

According to the new law, any individual or company found selling substandard or junk vaccine will face a fine that can be up to 50 times the amount of the sales volume. If the sales volume is lower than 500,000 yuan ($73,063), the fine will be calculated on the basis of it being 500,000 yuan.

Further, the company and the individuals responsible for selling substandard or junk vaccines will face a life ban on involvement in any medicine business, plus detainment of five to 15 days. If their actions violate the criminal law, the individuals responsible might face criminal charges besides the above-mentioned ones.

\There are some questioning whether such heavy punishments are necessary; The answer is definitely "yes". Such punishments should be heavy enough to make anyone think twice before considering whether the profit of selling substandard or junk vaccines is worth the risk.

Vaccines are the main protection against some serious diseases, and their quality is directly related to public health. Any substandard vaccines might pose health risks and cause a public health incident.

Many of those given vaccines are children, even newborns. If there is a problem with a group of vaccine products, the health of many children might be at risk.

Besides, it is State-run health institutions that provide the most basic vaccine services to residents. If any problem emerges, that will damage the credibility of the local government concerned. Even the whole State-run vaccine industry might suffer.

Therefore, it is necessary to prevent vaccine problems from happening at all cost. For social stability, for public health, as well as for the credibility of the government, there is enough reason to implement heavy penalties for vaccine crimes to deter anyone from putting profits before people. That will also give the public more confidence in the domestic vaccine industry.