Questions unsolved after company ordered to stop making rabies vaccine

IN A RECENT UNANNOUNCED INSPECTION, the State Drug Administration found that a pharmaceutical company based in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin province, forged its production record for freeze-dried human rabies vaccines. Qianjiang Daily comments:

The State Drug Administration said in a statement that after receiving a tip-off, they conducted an unannounced inspection of the company's factory and detected it had forged the records for the production of its rabies vaccine, although the batch of vaccines concerned had not left the factory or entered into the market and were now under its control.

However, the administration has revoked the company's Good Manufacturing Practice certificate, and instructed it to suspend the production of the rabies vaccine, vowing zero tolerance to any illegal behavior.

Compared with the authorities' harsh wording, the company's statement only touches on the matter lightly, saying it had suspended production and was recalling all previously released batches of the rabies vaccine which still had their shelf life.

Despite this, people are wondering what kind of "record fraud" would make the State Drug Administration so angry that it cancels the company's production certificate and orders it to stop production.

The company's statement is more of an effort to appease people than a commitment to find the cause and solve any problem.

People are thus justified in doubting the effectiveness of the company's rabies vaccines.

Both the investigators and the enterprise are obliged to disclose more details, if not giving the whole picture, at least enough to dispel misgivings.

The incubation period of rabies lasts from a few days to a year, even years in some rare cases. But once it shows its effects, the fatality rate is almost 100 percent.

It is good that the administration has pledged zero tolerance to fraud, which is actually the only wording that the people can accept when it comes to vaccines. But that is far from enough to quell people's unease, as the public trusts the government to ensure vaccines are 100 percent safe.

The authorities need to look further into the matter and disclose what the issue was that prompted the administration's actions.