March 01, 2023

Chinese parents demand justice for vaccine reactions

topic:	Health and Sanitation
located:	China
editor:	Wincy Ng

A Chinese parent, Hua Xiu Zhen, recently posted a picture of herself holding a sign that says “My child is suffering from a vaccine injury.” Along with 14 other parents, Zhen has written a statement calling for the victims of injuries from COVID-19 vaccines to come forward and file a class-action lawsuit against the State Council and National Health Commission of China. 

These parents-turned-activists have urged the government to make public the scientific investigations and medical diagnoses on abnormal reactions to vaccines. The organisers have also invited other victims to gather at Beijing next month and invited the press to follow while they hope to reach 200 signees for the petition.

However, their choice to arrive in Beijing next month is risky: with the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference being held that month, any civil disobedience will be treated as threatening national security and political stability. Their demands were previously dismissed by a court, and they even received warnings from the police afterwards.

Vaccine safety has been a controversial issue for years in China, despite the fact that parents have had difficulty in proving that their children suffered abnormal reactions. In some cases protests have even been suppressed and complaints have been silenced.

One of the most salient examples is the 2018 scandal, in which Changsheng Laboratories was found to have produced 650,000 doses of vaccines with safety issues for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. The company was then discovered to have fabricated production records for freeze-dried rabies vaccines for human use. Even though the company was fined 9.1 billion RMB ($1.8 billion) and the responsible people were punished, the scandal compromised the public's confidence in vaccines.

The issue has once again risen to public attention as the injection of COVID-19 vaccine is highly recommended by the government. Chinese experts stated that abnormal reactions accounted for 5.47 percent of injections, with an incidence rate of 3.85 per 1 million. Since May 2022, over 380 million doses of vaccine have been administered in the country.  

"Although the officials said that there is a one in a million abnormal reaction to the vaccine, it is a 100% disaster for a family." Hua's daughter told the media. "We need an impartial third-party organisation that can make an open and scientific diagnosis."

The process of chasing accountability is exhausting and complicated. It is never too late for the authorities to explain the scientific basis of these reactions, as well as treatment options, to those parents, as well as establishing protocols to address these adverse cases. Most importantly, allowing people to voice their concerns and raise questions about their own safety is crucial for a humane medical system.

Image by Diana Polekhina

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