How Beijing’s strict compensation system fails the families of China’s vaccine injury victims
Frustrating disputes highlight China’s inability to help families cover the costs of caring for children with immunisation-related ailments
When Wang Jinfeng looks at her son, rendered silent and handicapped by epileptic seizures, her anguish is palpable.
“He is eight years old and doesn’t speak,” she said. “He needs to lie down at home. When he goes out he is in a wheelchair. He needs constant care.”
The boy, Wang Haicheng, was just three days old in May 2010 when he suddenly fell unconscious. Upon awakening four days later, he began having frequent epileptic seizures.
Wang has speculated that her son’s attacks were connected to the hepatitis B and BCG vaccinations he had received after his birth under China’s national immunisation programme.
“He was fine during [my] pregnancy test and after [his] birth, but he wouldn’t eat after the BCG jab,” she recalled in an interview. “His body then turned blue and [he] fell into unconsciousness.”
When Wang pursued compensation from the health authorities for vaccination-related injuries to her son, she was informed in an official notice in January 2011 that the close timing of the vaccination and the onset of the epileptic symptoms were “coincidental”, resulting in her request’s rejection.
