Fake vaccines hinder efforts to curb bird-flu outbreaks
(bloomberg.com)
Updated: 2005-12-02 14:54

Fake bird-flu vaccines for poultry may hinder China's efforts to contain the virus responsible for at least 31 outbreaks in the country this year, said Joseph Domenech, the Food and Agriculture Organization's chief vet.

A Chinese medical worker disinfects a man walking out of the bird flu-hit area in Yongzhou City of central China's Hunan Province on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005. China is being open about its bird flu outbreaks, not covering them up, but there are fears that incompetent officials in poor, rural areas may not detect cases as quickly as they should, the Health Minister Gao Qiang said Wednesday. [AP]

Immunizing the 14 billion fowl raised in China each year is a key component of the government's plan to control the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus. Ten people, including executives from Inner Mongolia Jinyu Group Co.'s pharmaceutical unit, were arrested for allegedly selling fake vaccines linked to sick birds in Liaoning province, the Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

China is trying to prevent fresh outbreaks in poultry that increase the risk of avian flu spreading to humans and potentially mutating into pandemic influenza. Spurious vaccines are hampering efforts and cast doubt over the effectiveness of the government's control measures.

``If vaccinations are done with vaccines which are no good, the vaccination program is no good, it's as simple as that,'' Domenech said over the phone yesterday from the United Nations agency's headquarters in Rome. ``We are very concerned about it, particularly because of China's decision to vaccinate massively more than before and also because it is exporting vaccines.''

The country, which raises a fifth of the world's poultry, began its vaccination campaign in October and has immunized more than 3.1 billion fowl already.

Avian flu has infected at least 133 people the past two years in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and China and killed 68 of them, the World Health Organization said on Nov. 29. More than 140 million commercially raised birds have died or been destroyed in an attempt to control outbreaks.

Not Approved

The Jinyu unit allegedly produced more than 200,000 vials of vaccines between January 2004 and October 2005, Xinhua reported on Nov. 25. The 250-milliliter vials contained an assortment of a dozen types of vaccine, none of which were approved for the immunization of poultry against the H5N1 strain, Xinhua reported.

Vaccination should be undertaken only in tandem with other control measures, such as culling birds in diseased flocks, according to the World Organization for Animal Health. Vaccines must be safe, potent, and of proven efficacy against the circulating virus, and properly maintained from the moment of manufacture to the time of use.

``We are concerned about the issue of vaccination in general,'' said Alejandro Thiermann, chairman of the standard- setting committee at the Paris-based organization, also known as the OIE. Partial vaccination of flocks or the use of ineffective vaccines ``would be as good as not having vaccinated at all,'' he said.

Investigation

Vials of the fake vaccines were sold in China's northern, northwestern, northeastern, central, central south and southwestern regions, according to the Xinhua report. It said the government is analyzing the vaccines to see whether their use may cause serious disease outbreaks, it said.

``The quality of vaccination is crucial in fighting against bird flu,'' said Noureddin Mona, the Food and Agriculture Organization's Beijing-based representative for China, North Korea and Mongolia. ``If vaccines are not up to standard, then immunization to the virus will not be effective. This could bring huge losses and have disastrous consequences.''

Under Pressure

China's government is under pressure to improve the wellbeing of the country's 800 million rural residents, many of whom raise ducks, chickens and geese. The Ministry of Agriculture this week reported the country's 31st outbreak in poultry this year.

``Once the shoddy or fake vaccines have been used, the chance will be missed to exterminate the virus in the early stages and then the difficulty in wiping out the virus will increase by several times, as will the spread of the epidemic,'' Mona said.

Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, have bought poultry vaccine from China's nine vaccine makers.

``We know of some laboratories which are doing a very good job producing quality-controlled vaccines, but we don't know about all of the laboratories,'' said Domenech at the Food and Agriculture Organization.