BEIJING (AP) — China’s state news agency says eight people have been
sentenced to prison terms of up to two-and-a-half years for selling fake rabies
vaccines that contributed to the death of one boy.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Monday a court in southwestern Guangxi
region sentenced Zhang Dazhi to 30 months’ jail while seven others were handed
one-year prison terms.
Xinhua says the eight defendants sold more than 530 doses of fake rabies
vaccines between August and December last year. It says the vaccines were made
of mostly just water.
Police started investigations after a 5-year-old boy died of rabies in
December last year despite receiving six vaccine injections.
China’s pharmaceutical industry is lucrative but often
poorly regulated.
