China bars vaccine sales after scandal

Beijing

CHINA has banned drug wholesalers from selling vaccines, state media said on Monday, after a scandal in which about US$90 million worth of improperly stored vaccines was suspected of being sold illegally in dozens of provinces.

China is pushing ambitious healthcare reforms to improve its home-made medicines, but the vaccine scandal underscores the challenge facing the world's second-largest drug market in regulating its fragmented supply chain.