For years scandals involving food and baby milk formula have been grabbing headlines in China and around the world. Slowly, year after year, another problem has gripped China at the expense of the country’s young children—substandard vaccines.
On Nov. 3, China’s Food and Drug Administration issued an announcement that about 650,000 substandard DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus) vaccines were found at disease control centers in Shandong Province; Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province; and Chongqing City in southwestern China. The Administration claimed that though the potency of these vaccines might be affected, they would not do any harm to human health. It stated that it had informed relevant provinces on Oct. 29.
