Enforcement needed to plug health system loopholes

The disclosure of a vaccine scandal has provoked a public health crisis in China. The authorities of East China's Shandong province revealed earlier this month the arrest of a mother and her daughter accused of trafficking expired or improperly refrigerated vaccines valued at $88 million. The vaccines, against rabies, meningitis, hepatitis B and other diseases, were illegally traded across 24 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions since 2011.

Despite the World Health Organization's prompt statement that an adverse reaction to the vaccines is unlikely, this has done little to calm public outrage.

That's not surprising since the scandal has highlighted the loopholes in China's porous public health system and its weak management.