Indonesian authorities investigate hospitals over fake vaccines

Indonesian lawmakers have announced that hospitals and health clinics are being investigated by authorities after police exposed a group selling fake vaccines aimed at children for more than a decade.

Several private health facilities in Jakarta and Java have been shut as the police found them engaging in selling fake and potentially harmful vaccines for measles, hepatitis B and other viruses.

There have been reports of children becoming ill after vaccinations, but it is still not clear how many have been receiving the fake vaccines.

Dede Yusuf, chief of the parliamentary panel on health issues, stressed the importance of investigating the case and as reported by Reuters said: “We don’t know what the effect of this medication is. If it has been going on since 2003 as reported, what is the status of the children who have received it? We want to know the answers.”

“This is definitely an emergency,” Yusuf, added.

Health minister Nila Moeloek announced that parents are given the opportunity to vaccinate their children again if they are suspected to have received fake drugs.

She reportedly added: “It is alleged that the circulation of the fake vaccines are not more than 1% in Jakarta, Banten and West Java.”

So far, the police have arrested 14 distributors and makers of the fake vaccines.