Vaccine scandal teaches vital lessons

Editor's note: The Changchun Changsheng Bio-tech Company has become the target of public fury for falsifying production data and making substandard DPT (diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus) vaccines that are given to children. Three experts share their views with China Daily's Yao Yuxin on the issue and how should the vaccine sector win back public trust. Excerpts follow:

Fair competition among vaccine firms needed

The vaccine scandal involving the Changchun Changsheng Bio-tech Company is essentially different from the infant formula scandal of 2008. A systemic problem - monopoly leading to a lack of market competition - is one of the reasons of the vaccine scandal, while the inherent problems of the dairy product company led to the baby milk formula scandal. As is evident, the infant formula market is still more open than that for vaccines.