New Delhi: After media reports on life saving rabies vaccines, China has started recalling faulty rabies vaccines exported to several countries, including India, following revelations that a company which made the vaccines violated immunity standards and forged documents.The government, however, has declined to share details about the recall protocol that’s been initiated.

Media reports from New Delhi revealed last week that the company at the centre of the vaccine scandal in China - Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology Corporation - had exported its products to India.

Given that it has now emerged the company was selling ineffective vaccines since 2014, experts believe a sizeable number of people in India could have been exposed to the deadly infection which had a 100% fatality rate in the country in 2017.

In New Delhi, a government official told the media: “We have ordered an immediate withdrawal of rabies vaccines manufactured by a Chinese firm for the time being till the investigation...is completed. As per our inputs, China’s drug controller has issued an order to stop its manufacturing.”

The Chinese government hasn’t shared details about the number of countries that had purchased the tainted vaccines. A questionnaire was sent to the foreign ministry on the recall of vaccines made by the company, which sold fake anti-rabies vaccines in China and abroad.

The foreign ministry did not also answer the question whether the firm had exported other types of vaccines – such as the DPT vaccine for infants – to India. The foreign ministry’s statement didn’t mention India at all.

“Changchun Changsheng has started recalling the export vaccines since July 16. The China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) will continue to supervise the recall work,” the ministry said in its written statement. It didn’t share details about the quantity of vaccines exported to India or the period when was the firm sent them to India.