Parents: Fake Vaccine could affect millions of children in Indonesia

[dafluff]

http://time.com/4385064/indonesia-children-vaccination-scandal-vaccine-health/

This pisses me off to no end. I fully support the maximum possible punishment for these criminals. Jokowi has said that this should fall under "Kejahatan Luar Biasa", or Extraordinary Crime, which puts it in the same tier as terrorism. I agree with him.

The counterfeit vaccines were very convincing, using discarded original packaging, and the counterfeit ring included medical and hospital staff at various locations.

I have 2 children of vaccination age, and they were vaccinated in Indonesia. I am going over their records and will consult with their pediatrician about the implication of this news.

So far the police has identified the following 14 hospitals as having used the fake vaccines, going as far back as possibly 2003:

1. DR Sander, Cikarang
2. Bhakti Husada, Terminal Cikarang
3. Sentral Medika, Jalan Industri Pasir Gombong
4. RSIA Puspa Husada
5. Karya Medika, Tambun
6. Kartika Husada, Jalan MT Haryono Setu, Bekasi
7. Sayang Bunda, Pondok Ungu, Bekasi
8. Multazam, Bekasi
9. Permata, Bekasi
10. RSIA Gizar, Villa Mutiara Cikarang
11. Harapan Bunda, Kramat Jati, Jakarta Timur
12. Elisabeth, Narogong, Bekasi
13. Hosana, Lippo Cikarang
14. Hosana, Bekasi, Jalan Pramuka

Also the following vaccines are identified as having been faked:

1. Vaksin engerix B
2. Vaksin pediacel
3. Vaksin eruvax B
4. Vaksin tripacel
5. Vaksin PPDRT23
6. Vaksin penta-bio
7. Vaksin TT
8. Vaksin campak
9. Vaksin hepatitis B
10. Vaksin polio bOPV
11. Vaksin BCG
12. Vaksin harvix

 

[Puspawarna]

This is unconscionable. It really takes a soulless monster to get into the fake vaccine racket.

I received a Hep B vaccine in Indonesia (at SOS in 1997 or 1998 if I recall correctly) and later showed no antibodies against Hep B. I'd always assumed it was due to poor storage/expiration of a "real" vaccine, and it probably was. But it makes one wonder!

Sorry about your kids' shots, dafluff. I hope they don't end up needing too many additional shots.

 

[dafluff]

Sorry about your kids' shots, dafluff. I hope they don't end up needing too many additional shots.

Thanks Puspa. I am hoping that since no hospitals in Bali have been implicated, that they are fine. If you have kids that were vaccinated in Indonesia it is probably prudent to review that everything is in order.

This started as a small news item a few days ago, with only 2 known operators, and now they are arresting doctors, nurses and pharmacist...who knows how far this will go.

 

[Jaime C]

We are pretty religious about our daughter getting shots. Luckily our hospital in Bandung isn't listed, but these type of ripoffs are horrible. I'd take a Chinese approach to punishment for such crimes.

I'd be so devastated if my daughter was seriously ill from a fake vaccination.

 

[atlantis]

I am hoping that since no hospitals in Bali have been implicated, that they are fine.

I feel also sorry for your kids, Dafluff. No hospitals in Bali have been implicated but I would be surprised that it concerns only a handful of hospitals in a few cities.

"Going as far back as possibly 2003" you said? Great... this is the year of birth of my second kid. I think that I am going to dig in the family archives to find the vaccination certificate. Even though all my kids vaccination have been done in Manado, the fact that the police has found so far "only" 14 hospitals having used the fake vaccines makes me wonder how many in reality have done the same.

 

[dafluff]

We are pretty religious about our daughter getting shots. Luckily our hospital in Bandung isn't listed, but these type of ripoffs are horrible. I'd take a Chinese approach to punishment for such crimes.

I'd be so devastated if my daughter was seriously ill from a fake vaccination.

Hi Jaime! Welcome to the forum.

Luckily the fake vaccines discovered so far have been made by medical grade material. Most commonly IV fluid and antibiotics. Therefore no reports of children getting sick from the vaccine. This is probably also why they were able to operate for so long.

But the real risk is that there are potentially millions of kids who are unvaccinated and parents who believe they are, which is a recipe for an epidemic outbreak.

 

[dafluff]

I feel also sorry for your kids, Dafluff. No hospitals in Bali have been implicated but I would be surprised that it concerns only a handful of hospitals in a few cities.

"Going as far back as possibly 2003" you said? Great... this is the year of birth of my second kid. I think that I am going to dig in the family archives to find the vaccination certificate. Even though all my kids vaccination have been done in Manado, the fact that the police has found so far "only" 14 hospitals having used the fake vaccines makes me wonder how many in reality have done the same.

This is the concern right? Every time you catch a rat, you know there is at least 5 more hiding.

 

[atlantis]

Exactly.
And the further away from Jakarta you are, the less control there is. If it happened in Jakarta I don't see why us in the bush would have been more protected from it happening,

 

[Bad_azz]

Oh this is appalling.
I hope there is a way to find out if your kids' have the protection they need.

 

[dafluff]

Oh this is appalling.
I hope there is a way to find out if your kids' have the protection they need.

Thanks Bad_azz! And welcome! Love your new avatar btw.

 

[atlantis]

Thanks Bad_azz! And welcome! Love your new avatar btw.

Yup. I bet that she is gonna received tons of un-sollicited PMs.

 

[Bad_azz]

I have a friend who used to be somebody in the medical profession here. I am going to ask him about this & see if he can tell anymore.

 

[waarmstrong]

I see Rumah Sakit Harapan Bunda is one of the hospitals on the dispensing shit list. That's one of the places where some family members are treated. I will soon be passing along that information for follow up by family members who may have received shots there.

The rats who profited from this fraud should replace lab animals in future clinical trials involving the deadly diseases for which they faked inoculations.

 

[Bad_azz]

Here is the feedback I got : The fake vaccines were mostly delivered by & administered in private hospitals in Jakarta and some other cities. The official ones are produced in Bandung by Bio Farma - the Public hospitals have the genuine vaccines made by BioFarma.


Not my words but from a good source.

 

[Bad_azz]

Further info from my source: Govt policy - The Minister of Health is taking over this case and she has announced that all children who got the fake vaccines should go to the public hospitals and will be vaccinated again for free.

* but first go get the antibodies checked to see if the initial vaccine was effective or not / fake or not.

 

[dafluff]

Further info from my source: Govt policy - The Minister of Health is taking over this case and she has announced that all children who got the fake vaccines should go to the public hospitals and will be vaccinated again for free.

* but first go get the antibodies checked to see if the initial vaccine was effective or not / fake or not.

So at least 2 shots if you are missing antibodies: 1 to test and 1 to administer. My kids will be ecstatic.

Another thing: The news says that none of the mandatory (free!) vaccines were faked. So is the ministry going to do the optional (paid - some quite expensive) for free? I doubt it. So this offer could just be an empty offer. Also, even though they are "optional", they are still very important.

Mandatory Vaccines in Indonesia:

• BCG
• DTP
• Hepatitis B
• Polio
• Measels

Optional Vaccines in Indonesia:

• Pneumococcus (Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine)
• Influenza
• Varicella
• MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella)
• Tifoid
• Hepatitis A
• HPV (Human Papilloma Virus)
• Rotavirus

 

[dafluff]

Update:

The Ministry of Health has set up a hotline for any questions regarding re-immunization and concerns regarding the fake vaccines. The number is 1500567.

 

[Bad_azz]

Nice to know my "source" was on the ball

 

[OomBen]

Well it's nice that they've come out with a list of hospitals now. The Health minister said something rather annoying... it felt like she doesn't care about kids who go to private hospitals. Like, "Oh, you have fake vaccines at private hospitals? At puskesmas we only use real vaccines." Really helpful *slow golf clap*

And then they didn't have a list of the hospitals that were using the fake vaccines. *smh* How annoying.

Ah well. Glad my hospitals aren't on that list. Still kind of scary.

 

[fastpitch17]

Looking at all that has come out from this leads me to think it is a lot bigger then anyone thinks. There are a lot of people involved that think they shouldn't be or just refuse to accept any blame. I know, par for the course here.
Police announce a ring of manufactures and distributors of fake vaccines.
Arrest made.
People want to know where the fakes were dispensed.
Police announced the distribution of the fakes have been going on for 13 years.
More arrest made.
Police release the names of the arrested for taking part in the manufacturing and distribution of the fakes.
Police announce something like 37 medical related facilities that are using the fakes in Java and Sumatra.
People demand to know who.
Police state they can not release the names because of ongoing investigations.
DPR hears the people and insist the names be released.
Police announce that there will be no charges against and medical facility.
DPR, Health Ministry. and Police meet. Will give out name the next day.
Names of 14 hospitals in a small area and 7 or 8 Midwife clinics are released.
Patients get upset and report and show fake recipients obtained from hospitals because they were told by the staff their supplies ran out and had to get from a private doctor.
Health Ministry states they have known about the fake distribution and usage for 3 years but assure everyone there was no cover up. They were waiting (3 years) for the police to investigate.
Doctors Union claims their members and facilities are being treated badly. That they are not the guilty parties, just the manufacturers and distributors of the fakes.
Government keeps announcing that the fakes were safe.
Doctors Union states not their fault because they reported to the government there was a shortage of vaccines.
Yes, a cover up. most definitely, people have and many will continue to fatten their purses and wallets. All the guilty parties will never be charged even though the fakes were not purchased through approved channels. If Indonesia really wanted to clean this up, they would be going after the manufacturers, distributors, Doctors who bought it, health facilities who bought it, and the Health ministry personnel who knew about it 3 years ago. Police and other officials will need to be looked into for any part they played over the past 13 years. This doesn't go on for so long without some people knowing about it.