In late September 2010, almost one full year after a 5 year-old boy died of rabies in China’s southern Guangxi province after receiving a fake vaccination in response to a dog bite, authorities in the province’s Laibin City (来宾市) confirmed that at least 1,656 people were given fake rabies vaccines at more than 20 local hospitals and clinics. This was simply the latest of a number of stories in 2010 dealing with the dangers of problem vaccines in China. The most high-profile story was a March investigative report by veteran journalist and CMP fellow Wang Keqin (王克勤), showing how official incompetence and corruption in Shanxi province had resulted in at least four deaths from problem vaccines. In this cartoon, posted by artist Lao Yao (老妖) to his QQ.com blog, a phantom leaps out of a syringe that reads “fake vaccine” as a child runs away in terror.


David Bandurski

CMP Director

Latest Articles