There are fears for the safety of a woman campaigning about China’s defective vaccines, with activists saying she has been missing for more than 40 days. Authorities have been clamping down on families demanding redress over hundreds of thousands of doses issued by the government.
Following revelations in July that a state-sponsored vaccine program had been using faulty serum, Tan Hua (譚華), 38 had been organizing parents calling for compensation and changes to how health authorities manage vaccines.
Changsheng Biotechnology Co Ltd (長生生物), based in China’s northern province of Jilin, was found to have sold 250,000 defective vaccines. It also fabricated inspections dating back to 2014.
Another major vaccine maker, the state-owned Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd (武漢生物製品研究所), was also producing faulty inoculations for infants.
Tan, who claims she was the victim of a defective rabies vaccine in 2014 and has been protesting for years, was among a group of at least nine other protesters who were detained after attempting to protest in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in early September.
“Some 10 or 20 men in plain clothes surrounded us and caught Tan Hua,” said He Fangmei (何芳美), another campaigner, who was there. “I was trying to make calls to other activists for help.”
He, who said her daughter became partially paralyzed after receiving one of the substandard vaccines discovered this year, was sent back to her home.
Unlike the others who were released or whose family has received notice of their detention, there has been no news of Tan since she was taken away on Sept. 3. She reportedly has epilepsy and other health problems and had been seeking disability compensation in Beijing.
Authorities have tried to respond swiftly to the latest vaccine scandal, firing senior officials in the Chinese Food and Drug Administration and detaining the chairwoman of Changsheng, as well as more than a dozen other employees.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) said the government would “investigate to the end” and “effectively respond to the concerns of the people.”
Yet parents who have become vocal, calling for a vaccine law or more information about vaccine safety, have come under pressure.
“That the [Chinese Communist] party would rather lock up a victim of a very scandal its trying to fix shows it still doesn’t know how to protect social-economic rights,” said Frances Eve, a campaigner with the advocacy group Chinese Human Rights Defenders.
A WeChat group of about 300 parents, advocates and vaccine victims, used to mobilize protest, has been censored, He said.
He and others have halted their activities since the detentions.
“Our group of activists is like a plate of scattered sand. Some have been beaten. Some have been detained. Some are terrified. I will of course keep fighting for my daughter, but to be honest, I have no idea what to do,” she said.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS