24 Mar 2016

Chinese $130m vaccine scam leads to 37 arrests

1:33 pm on 24 March 2016

Thirty-seven people have been arrested in eastern China over a huge vaccine scandal.

The case involves $130 million worth of illegal vaccines suspected of being sold in dozens of provinces.

Xinhua news agency said the vaccines were bought from a variety of sources, both licensed and unlicensed, then sold to medical centres at inflated prices.

Though authorities had known about the illegal ring since April last year they only made the news public at the weekend when they issued a call demanding suppliers come forward to help them trace potential victims.

The delay in making the case public angered many people in China.