A major investigation is under way following the deaths of two
boys who received rabies inoculations in Guangdong
Province.
Both deaths occurred less than two weeks apart in Guangdong's
Wengyuan County, and now the food and drug administration is
looking into the batch of the vaccine concerned.
Zhong Yuwang died of rabies on June 28 after being bitten by a
dog on his left hand and foot. He had received a month long course
of four injections against the disease, but instead of speeding his
recovery, the drug seemed to make him weaker, officials said.
A few days after Zhong's death, another boy died of the same
symptoms after he had received the same treatment at the same
clinic.
Initial investigations indicate that improper storage of the
vaccine during transportation somehow affected the vaccine, making
it ineffective in fighting against the disease, said He Jingquan, a
director with the provincial food and drug administration.
He said the vaccine was not kept refrigerated during its
two-hour journey from a drug wholesaler in Shaoguan to the family
planning service center in Wengyuan, where the boys received their
injections.
The investigation has also uncovered that neither the medical
service facility nor the drug wholesaler in Shaoguan were properly
qualified to handle the vaccine, he said.
"The Ministry of Health will draft a national guideline on
vaccination, requiring all doctors to be more careful how they buy
and administer vaccines," Deng Haihua, director of the information
office of the ministry, said.
However, better coordination between health and drug supervision
departments should be implemented to ensure safer vaccinations in
the future, Deng noted.
In China, supervision of the production and marketing of
vaccines is done by the drug supervision department. The health
departments are only in charge of managing doctors.
While management remains split between two departments, problems
can easily crop up as the vaccine goes from producers to the market
and then to patients, Deng said.
(China Daily July 16, 2005)
