Parents in Shanxi still angry at former official behind vaccine scandal

• Source: Global Times
• [01:07 June 11 2010]
• Comments

By Ji Beibei

Parents of children who fell ill in Shanxi Province after they were given vaccines earlier are once again angry that the former director of the provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention has walked away without punishment.

They are upset after a report that Li Wenyuan was seen driving a car donated to the local health authority by the China Charity Federation, a government-approved organization that provides help to poor people.

Health authorities in April said their investigation found Li had violated rules in his arrangement with vaccine suppliers, but they said the vaccines were not problematic and did not confirm whether Li should be held responsible for the scandal.

The investigation's findings did not make parents feel better and they felt Li should have been held accountable.

"I was disappointed," Gao Changhong, a father whose son got epilepsy after having the vaccine, told the Global Times Thursday.

Chengdu Business Daily reported Thursday that Li was spotted driving a luxury car in Taiyuan.

Chen Tao'an, a whistleblower who worked with the provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and reported the problem to the media, told the Global Times Thursday that he believes Li will be handed a new job.

Chen discovered in 2007 that the vaccines produced by Beijing Huawei Company were shipped without being refrigerated and he was concerned that the vaccines may be dangerous to children.

Chen failed to get answers from the local government and went to the China Economic Times, which carried a report on March 17 saying 100 children died or fell ill after receiving vaccines supplied by Huawei.

In April, the Ministry of Health denied that the vaccines were problematic.

Experts at the ministry checked 15 children, and concluded that only three fell ill due to the vaccines. One of the sick children suffered a mild reaction.

An investigation by the provincial government revealed that Li signed a contract with Huawei without a tendering process and he was accused of embezzling 270,000 yuan ($39,521) from the vaccine supplier's safety guarantee deposit.

Li left the post of head of the CDC at the end of last year and an investigation against him is still open, Ju Xianhua, deputy secretary general of the provincial government, said on March 23.

Chen said an internal meeting of the provincial health department at the end of last year concluded that Li's removal was a normal job arrangement, and it was not related to the vaccine scandal. With Li being seen driving a car belonging to the authority, Chen believed Li will be given a new job.