Sinovac vaccine suspended in China after death

Sinovac Biotech, a China-based biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the R&D, manufacture and commercialization of vaccines, says that the Health Services Bureau of the Fengtai District in the City of Beijing has suspended the use of 83 doses of the firm's inactivated hepatitis A vaccine Healive, following a report of the death of a minor in the Fengtai District, which followed the administration of the vaccine two days earlier.

The vaccine was part of a lot that passed the routine government inspection in July. To date, 19,850 doses from the lot have been distributed. According to data released by the Center for Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring of Beijing, there are no other reported adverse reactions to date. On November 29, the Beijing Drug Administration and Drug Administration of Haidian District of the City of Beijing conducted a joint administrative investigation that included an inspection of the company's production site and review of its manufacturing, inspection and sales processes, and concluded in a written report that no abnormality was found.