It shouldn’t be a secret that vaccines are made in China.
There are over 1.3 billion people in China, and no, they don’t import all of their vaccines from the United States.
Neither does India, for all of their 1.2 billion people.
For example, the Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. makes many vaccines, including:
- GeneVac-B – hepatitis B
- Quadrovax – DTP-Hib combo
- Pentavac – DTP-HepB-Hib combo
- Tresivac – MMR
- Poliovac – polio
- Triple Antigen – DTP
- MenAfriVac – meningococcal group A
And there are over 34 vaccine manufacturers in China, including:
- Chengdu Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd
- Hualan Biolgical Bacterin Co., Ltd
- Jilin Brother Biotech Co., Ltd
- Wuhan Institute of Biological Products
- Lanzhouz Institute of Biological Products
These vaccine manufacturers in China, a mix of state run, private, and international joint ventures, help produce the vaccines used in China’s immunization program.
Some US vaccine companies even have vaccine manufacturing plants in China and other countries, but they make vaccines that are used in nearby parts of the world.
For example, Merck recently opened a new vaccine plant in Hangzhou, China to make vaccines to be used in the Asia Pacific region.
Should We Be Concerned About Vaccines Made in China?
If you are getting vaccinated in China, then you likely want to know more about where and how your vaccines are made, especially as there have been some recent vaccine scandals in China. Everyone else should probably be wondering why anti-vaccine folks make such a fuss about this.
In addition to implying that vaccines are made under unsafe conditions, much of this anti-vaccine propaganda includes racist themes.
Parents who are concerned should understand that the United States doesn’t get any vaccines from China or India, or from Brazil, Cuba, Indonesia, or Russia for that matter.
The concern, of course, would be that it might be hard to test and verify these vaccines if they were.
“Following approval, FDA also carefully monitors the quality of vaccines—all manufactured lots must pass tests before they can be used. And as with all manufacturers of medical products, vaccine manufacturers must follow strict manufacturing standards. In addition, FDA conducts routine inspections of manufacturing sites.”
FDA on How does FDA assess the safety of vaccines?
Instead, vaccines that are used in the United States are made by:
- Emergent Biosolutions – USA – Anthrax vaccine
- ID Biomedical Corp – Canada – Fluvaval
- GSK Vaccines – based in Belgium, but vaccines are made in Belgium (Boostrix, Cervarix, Energix-B, Havrix, Hiberix, Infanrix, MenHibrix, Kinrix, Pediarix, Rotarix), Germany (Boostrix, Fluarix, Infanrix, Kinrix, Pediarix, Rabavert), and Italy (Bexsero, Menveo)
- MedImmune – USA – FluMist
- Merck – USA – BCG, Gardasil9, MMRII, PedvaxHIB, PneumoVax23, ProQuad, RecombivaxHB, RotaTeq, Vaqta, Varivax, Zostavax are made at Merck’s vaccine manufacturing plants in West Point, Pennsylvania, Elkton, Virginia, and Durham, North Carolina
- PaxVax – USA – their Vivotif typhoid vaccine is made in Thörishaus, Switzerland
- Pfizer – USA – (Prevnar, Trumenba)
- Protein Sciences Corporation – USA – Flublok
- Sanofi Pasteur – Canada (Adacel, Daptacel, Pentacel), France (IPOL, Pentacel), USA (Menactra, YF-Vax, ),
- Seqirus – USA – Afluria, Flucelvax, Fluvirin
- Valneva (Intercell USA) -their Japanese encephalitis vaccine (IXIARO) is made in Livingston, Scotland, UK
- Valneva Sweden AB – their Dukoral cholera vaccine is made in Solna, Sweden
A little competition in the vaccine industry wouldn’t be a horrible thing though.
Vaccines are expensive…
What to Know About Vaccines Made in China
Although plenty of vaccines are made in China, the vaccines that are used in the United States are not, although anti-vaccine folks use this as a talking point to scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.
For More Information on Vaccine Manufacturer Sites:
- WHO prequalified vaccines
- CDC – List of Vaccines Used in the United States
- FDA – How does FDA assess the safety of vaccines?
- Vaccine Manufacturers
- Vaccines made in China – another ridiculous anti-vax myth
- WHO – China enters the global vaccine market
Updated August 20, 2018
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