A Chinese Vaccine Maker Faked Its Paperwork for Two Years Before Anyone Noticed
Changsheng supplied nearly a quarter of the country's rabies shots. Regulators only found out the records were fiction after a tip from inside the building.
Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology supplied about a quarter of China's rabies vaccines and had been quietly falsifying production and testing records for at least two years, using expired materials and doctoring the dates to hide it. A separate batch of DTaP vaccines — for diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus — also failed to meet standard, and roughly 252,600 doses of it had already been administered to children.
The scandal only surfaced on July 5, 2018, after a tip from a staff member inside the company. Ten days later, regulators confirmed the fabricated rabies vaccine records and revoked Changsheng's manufacturing license. The company's response, days after its own stock had cratered on the news, was a statement assuring the public there was nothing to worry about.
There was, evidently, plenty to worry about: parents held rare public protests outside government buildings in Beijing, an extraordinary sight in a country where that kind of demonstration usually ends quickly and quietly — which this one also did, with attendees reportedly detained. The company was hit with a $1.3 billion fine, 18 staff including chairwoman Gao Junfang were arrested, and more than 40 government officials were investigated for their role in letting it go on as long as it did.
Changsheng was stripped of its licenses and declared bankrupt in 2019. Researchers later found that public trust in vaccines specifically, and in the regulators meant to catch this sort of thing generally, took measurable, lasting damage — which is the actual cost of "if you can cheat, then cheat" once the cheating involves what's inside the needle.
Filed from public reporting:
