Yezhednevnik: Uncertified S Korean vaccine tested on Belarusian children

The whole country was shocked by the death of a 2-month-old boy after a vaccination injection in Hancavicy District. A little girl was taken to the intensive care after the same injection but she has survived.

The children received two injections on that day – French and South Korean vaccines. The usage of both vaccines has been suspended. Specialists from the Korean company LG Chem. Ltd. arrived in Belarus, according to media reports. However, it has turned out that the Korean vaccine Eupenta is not certified in Belarus – the paperwork was to be sorted only by the end of September. 

However, Eupenta has been widely used in Belarus since January 2017, the online investigative journal Yezhednevnik has found out. Under the Law on medicines, the usage of vaccines that are not registered in Belarus is forbidden.

About 10% of imported medicines are not registered in Belarus because it is allowed by the law, officials from the Ministry of Heath explained.

However, the import of unregistered medicines is allowed only in two cases, Yezhednevnik noted. It can be done in order to conduct clinical and pre-clinical trials or in an emergency caused by natural or anthropogenic impact or by an epidemic. The mentioned vaccine could not be used in any other cases in Belarus.

The vaccine has not undergone all the necessary tests yet and is not registered in South Korea either, journalists found out on the website of the South Korean Ministry. 

Thus, Belarusian children received the South Korean vaccine for trial purposes, Yezhednevnik concluded. 

See here the details of their investigation.