Outrage in China over thousands of faulty vaccines for children

China’s Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) has launched an investigation into vaccine manufacturer Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology, revoking its license for human rabies vaccines and beginning a recall of all unused vaccines produced by the company.

Many of the defective vaccines were already on the market and being given to Chinese children, as part of the mandatory national vaccination program.

Social-media users expressed anger and disillusionment at the country’s seeming lack of regard for children’s safety—a problem that has recurred over and over since the 2008 tainted-milk scandal. ”Don’t let children grow up in this land. Otherwise, you’ll be sorry to you children. There was toxic milk powder, then the RYB kindergarten scandal, now toxic vaccines, what’s next?!” one user wrote on social media site Weibo, yet the message was censored and deleted soon.

Ironically, in Chinese, the term Changsheng is a play on words meaning “long life.”