A chain of corruption

The allegation is serious: Government-provided vaccines have allegedly killed or disabled dozens of children in Shanxi province.

The media expos of a possibly explosive scandal has forced upon "competent authorities" the duty of clarifying this mess. It is not a mere matter of government credibility. It involves dozens of lives, and may affect many more.

But authorities have not responded thus far. Shanxi's Department of Public Health (DPH), after a reportedly perfunctory investigation that allegedly did not include interviews of the victims' families, denied a China Business Times report revealing the scandal, calling it "basically untrue". The newspaper issued a statement claiming "full legal responsibility" for its investigative report.