Beijing - China will severely punish companies that produce fake and poor quality rabies vaccines, the country's food and drug watchdog said on Thursday, after several people reportedly died from substandard vaccines.
"Vaccines with quality problems will be sealed where found and seriously dealt with according to the law," the State Food and Drug Administration said on its Web site (www.sfda.gov.cn).
"This will prevent unqualified vaccines from entering shops and places of use," it added in a statement.
The official Xinhua news agency added that sub-standard rabies vaccines had been responsible for several deaths recently, though it did not elaborate.
The food and drug body said local authorities had to report their findings on fake vaccines to the central government by July 2007.
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"Cases which seriously harm people's health, or are criminal in nature, will be handed over to the police in a timely manner for investigation," it said.
The statement did not provide details on how many people may have been affected by fake vaccines.
Rabies has killed more people in China than either tuberculosis or Aids in each of the preceding seven months, the health ministry said on Monday, prompting a crackdown in the capital and several provinces to control unregistered dogs.
In the first nine months of 2006, the health ministry recorded 2 254 rabies infections in people, up 26,69 percent on the same period in 2005.
Some 2 660 people died of rabies in China in 2004, according to health ministry figures.
The Chinese government has also previously expressed concern about fake or poor quality bird flu vaccines used on domestic poultry.
Fake or bad drugs have killed dozens of people in China in recent years and raised questions about drug safety.
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