Chinese authorities pledge to crack down on black market sale of vaccines

Chinese authorities have pledged to crack down on the black market sale of vaccines after it emerged that nearly $90 million worth of illegal vaccines were suspected of being sold in dozens of provinces around the country.

The drug regulator in Shandong, the province at the heart of the scandal, said today that it would work with police forces and the health ministry to inspect vaccine stocks to ascertain where 570 million yuan ($88 million) worth of vaccines had ended up.

According to commentators, the case involving vaccines against meningitis, rabies and other illnesses, highlights the challenge the world's second-largest drug market faces to regulate its fragmented supply chain, even as the country looks to support home-grown firms.

"We will thoroughly investigate all clues in the case and once we get to the bottom of it then we will severely punish those found to have violated the law,"  the Shandong food and drug administration said in a statement posted on its website.

According to local police, a mother and daughter in Shandong had illegally bought vaccines from traders and sold them to hundreds of re-sellers around the country, the Shandong Public Security Department said in a notice.

In terms of the amount of money involved the case is the largest of its kind in China.

The food and drug department in Shandong, on Saturday, released a list of 107 suspects who allegedly supplied the pair with the vaccines. The names of another 193 suspects who allegedly bought vaccines from the mother and daughter were made public by the department.

The China Food and Drug Administration urged all suspects in the case to turn themselves in and reveal the whereabouts of the vaccines. It also called on local food and drug departments to work with the police during the investigation.

Further, the administration issued a statement saying, "All those involved in the case must report the variety, amount, batch number and whereabouts of the vaccines to the FDA or police before March 25."