To make matters worse, the vaccine scandal has created an atmosphere of distrust toward China’s medical system. (Photo : Getty Images)
The Chinese government has demoted or fired a total of 357 officials while over 200 suspects have been taken into custody in line with the crackdown on the health scandal involving illegal distribution of vaccine.
According to the South China Morning Post, hundreds of Chinese officials were punished and a total of 202 suspects were arrested by mainland authorities over the explosive vaccine scandal.
The issue which was previously covered by Chinese news outlets became big as it forced worried parents to go to Hong Kong for their children's immunization needs.
Furthermore, the Chinese national government has declared a stricter regulation of the vaccine market to prevent similar cases from surfacing.
How It Began
In April 2015, authorities nabbed a 47-year-old woman and her daughter believed to be selling vaccines that were either expired or stored and transported improperly.
Initial investigations revealed that the duo had accomplices who distributed 570 million yuan (about $88 million) worth of "problematic" vaccines all over China since 2010.
In March, the Xinhua News Agency revealed a list of the vaccines illegally sold in 18 provinces from the Shandong Food and Drug Administration branch.
Since then, authorities continued to scour the market for the problematic vaccines and found out that the crime had been done on a larger scale than they initially reported.
China's State Council meeting on Wednesday revealed that the illegal vaccine probe has already captured more than 200 people, who will soon face trial for a total of 192 criminal cases.
Aside from that, 357 officials including some from the China Food and Drug Administration and China's health commission, as well as 17 city and province-level governments, have already been punished for negligence.
"Vaccine safety is critical to children's life and health, it is a red line that cannot be messed around with," the State Council said in a statement.
The Effects of the Scandal
Aside from the arrests, the vaccine scandal also gave the World Health Organization a reason to call for stronger vaccine regulations the country should implement.
"This incident has highlighted the need for more, stricter enforcement of vaccine management regulations across the board," Bernhard Schwartlander, a representative from WHO China, told the Voice of America via email.
China also saw a sudden surge of travelers to Hong Kong due to the Shandong vaccine scandal.
Many parents from the mainland were too scared of the issue to risk having their children vaccinated within the country, which is why they went to Hong Kong to seek immunization even if it will cost them more.
While the territory welcomed most of them, Hong Kong imposed later a limit to the number of children from the mainland so as not to deplete their resources intended for resident children.
