中国政府努力控制疫苗丑闻不良后果

Chinese authorities are scrambling to control the fallout after revelations that $88m in expired or spoiled vaccines have been distributed across China in a trade that continued unchallenged for years.

中国当局正在努力控制“问题疫苗”丑闻造成的不良后果。此前有爆料称，价值8800万美元的过期或变质疫苗被分销至中国各地，而且这一交易多年来一直畅行无阻。

The latest in a string of food and drug safety scandals in the country highlights the ability of unsafe distribution networks to thrive in the absence of public scrutiny. It comes at a time when China is promoting vaccine manufacture as a potential export industry.

作为中国一连串食品药品安全丑闻中的最新一例，此案凸显出了公共监督缺位的情况下不安全的分销网络发展壮大的能力。此案曝光的同时，中国正在推进疫苗制造业的发展，以期它日后成长为一个出口型产业。

Police in Shandong province cracked the ring that purchased and redistributed substandard vaccines 11 months ago but authorities only appealed to distributors to help trace potential victims this week, after Chinese media broke the story.

11个月前，山东警方破获了一个购买和转手销售不合格疫苗的团伙，但直到中国媒体曝光这条消息后，当局才在本周呼吁分销商协助查出此案的潜在受害者。

The ringleaders, a doctor and her daughter from the agricultural region of Heze, had been conducting the business since 2010 after being convicted of a similar offence in 2009.

这个团伙的头目是来自农业地区菏泽的一名医生及她的女儿。自2010年以来，这名医生就一直在做这门生意。此前在2009年，她曾因犯下类似罪行而被定罪。

The ring specialised in buying spoiled or soon-to-expire vaccines from dozens of salespeople at vaccine groups, and then redistributing them to vendors, including government-run disease control centres, in at least 10 provinces or cities.

该团伙专门从疫苗公司的数十名销售人员手中购买变质或快过期的疫苗，再转手卖给至少10个省市的供货商，其中包括政府运营的疾控中心。

“We found the storage space to be a mess. There were no proper refrigeration facilities. The vaccines were wrapped in paper boxes with ‘ice bars,’ and the room clearly was not up to standard,” policeman Chen Bo told China Radio International after the case became public.

此案公诸于世后，民警陈波告诉中国国际广播电台(China Radio International)，警方发现嫌疑人存放疫苗的仓库内堆得乱七八糟，没有适当的冷藏设备，疫苗就包裹在中间塞上“冰排”的纸盒中，房间的温度显然达不到标准。

The story of the resold vaccines was first revealed by The Paper, an online news portal in Shanghai that specialises in investigative reporting. The ensuing public furore has led to 37 arrests, this week’s order to trace the potential victims and a statement by Chinese premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday that the case “exposed many regulatory loopholes”.

有关转卖疫苗的消息最初是由澎湃新闻(The Paper)报道的。澎湃是位于上海的一家专长于调查性报告的新闻门户网站。报道引起的轰动已导致37人被捕，并促使当局在本周下令查出潜在受害者，中国总理李克强也在周二批示称，此案“暴露出监管方面存在诸多漏洞”。

Qiao Mu, a former journalism professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said the case would have been “completely preventable” if Chinese media were allowed to report freely on misconduct. “The authorities have a tendency of covering up media reports and failing to act until the whole thing blows up.”

原北京外国语大学(Beijing Foreign Studies University)新闻学教授乔木表示，如果允许中国媒体对不当行为展开自由报道，此案原本“完全可以避免”。“当局有种倾向，就是捂住媒体的报道、不采取行动，直到整件事捂不住了为止。

“It’s no coincidence that these cases repeat themselves,”

“这类案子反复出现不是巧合。”

In a similar case in impoverished Shanxi province in 2010, at least four young children died after receiving vaccines that had been left in sweltering heat. The editor of the China Economic Times was fired after his paper broke that story.

在2010年贫困的山西省发生的一起类似的案件中，至少4名儿童在接种曾暴露于高温下的疫苗后死亡。而在《中国经济时报》(China Economic Times)报道这条消息后，其总编被解职。

Authorities have not announced any deaths or illness from spoiled or ineffective vaccines in the Shandong case.

在山东这起案件中，当局尚未宣布变质或无效疫苗导致了任何死亡或患病。

In China’s most notorious food-safety breach, milk adulterated by the chemical compound melamine, the infant formula maker at the centre of the scandal attempted a recall but was ordered by government officials to cover up the problem, for fear of damaging China’s reputation ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. At least six infants died, more than 300,000 fell ill and the reputation of the Chinese dairy industry has yet to recover.

中国最臭名昭著的食品安全违规案，是在奶粉中掺入化合物三聚氰胺。处于那起丑闻核心的婴幼儿配方奶粉制造商曾试图召回产品，却被政府官员下令掩盖该问题，因为他们担心这件事会在2008年北京奥运会(Olympic Games)前夕破坏中国的声誉。那起丑闻导致至少6名婴儿死亡、逾30万婴儿患病，中国乳品业的声誉至今仍未恢复。