Families unite online in a shared belief that their children have been sickened – and even killed – by injections
For new mother Wang Shixia, there was nothing remotely alarming about getting a compulsory DPT shot for her seven-month-old son at a well-established hospital in China’s coastal province of Shandong.
But little did she realise, the state-sponsored injection three years ago – given yearly to millions of newborns nationwide to prevent diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus – would nearly claim the life of her son and plunge her family into a nightmare that still haunts them.
Wang’s child developed a high temperature hours after the jab and his condition soon worsened. Within a fortnight, the infant was in an intensive care unit fighting a persistent high fever, a festering rash, a bone marrow infection and meningitis.
The child survived but continued to need medical treatment every few months in Beijing. The health authorities confirmed that the child’s condition was a result of the vaccine.
Now, with China confronting its worst public health crisis in years, Wang and hundreds of other parents who say their children have been sickened, disabled or killed by vaccinations in years past are demanding answers from the government.
The crisis erupted when the drug authorities announced that Changchun Changsheng Bio-technology, one of the country’s biggest vaccine makers, made about 252,600 substandard DPT vaccines that were given to hundreds of thousands of babies – some as young as three months old.
The company also forged data in the production of about 113,000 rabies vaccines, state drug regulators said.
So far, the listed company has been given a small fine – just 0.6 per cent of its 2017 net profit. Fifteen people, including its chairwoman, have also been arrested, and China’s top leaders have pledged to have a thorough investigation into the “appalling” incident.
But for many parents, this is not enough.
“The bad guys of course should be punished, but what about the children and families who have already been inflicted with so much pain and suffering [by the vaccines]? Don’t we deserve answers and compensation?” Wang said.
The DPT shot given to Wang’s child was made by Changsheng Bio-tech, but not among the batch of faulty vaccines found by the state drug regulator. According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, any vaccine can cause side effects, and there is risk – albeit extremely small – of a vaccine causing severe harm and even death.
