Parents seek answers after children sickened by vaccines
- Source: Global Times
- [01:35 June 28 2010]
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By Li Shuang
The parents of nine victims who allegedly had abnormal reactions to vaccine shots received in Shanxi, Shandong and Henan provinces met in front of the Ministry of Health in Beijing on Friday, demanding that the ministry investigate the incidents. The ministry has not yet responded.
"We want the ministry to find out exactly who is responsible for these dead and sick children," said Yi Wenlong, the father of 15-year-old Yi Lingling, who was diagnosed with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis after receiving the A and C groups of the meningitis vaccine at her school in Linfen, Shanxi Province in December 2006.
A report by the Beijing-based China Economic Times on March 17 revealed that improperly stored vaccines administered by the provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had killed four children and sickened more than 70 others who had been vaccinated between 2006 and 2008, citing Chen Tao'an, a whistle-blower who worked with the Shanxi CDC in 2007.
The parents also demanded the results of the medical testimonial given by the ministry at a press conference on April 6. One group of eight medical experts commissioned by the ministry concluded at that press conference that some diseases afflicting the victims are related to the vaccines, while others are not. No further details were disclosed.
The ministry dispatched eight medical experts from the Chinese Medical Association to Shanxi on March 26 and 27 to meet with some of the victims, including Yi's daughter. "They looked at my daughter. They didn't take any blood samples," Yi told the Global Times.
After that, Yi wrote to the ministry many times demanding a copy of the medical testimonial with signatures of the experts, but never received a reply.
After arriving on Monday, he met with other victims' families. "We will seek justice together," said Yi.
