Merck recalls children's vaccines in China

BEIJING, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Nearly a tenth of 1.2 million doses of children's vaccines recalled by American drug firm Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) on Wednesday were sold in China, Chinese media reported on Friday.

Merck voluntarily recalled 11 lots of PedvaxHIB vaccine and two lots of its Comvax vaccine after quality-control checks found production equipment might not have been properly sterilised.

The only lot which the company said had been distributed outside the United States had been exported to China, the Southern Metropolis Daily said.

The southern province of Guangdong, where the newspaper is based, had bought more than 10,000 of the 104,930 doses sold across China, it said.

"The provincial disease control centre has issued an urgent notice ordering the immediate freeze of the vaccines," the newspaper said.

Health authorities in Guangdong had received no reports of adverse reactions to the vaccines, however, and experts had advised parents not to panic as imported drugs had to undergo strict tests entering the country, the dail said.

China has accused Western media of sensationalism reporting of a wave of scandals this year over its exports of food, drugs and other products, saying it also suffers from substandard goods imported from developed nations but does not hype up the problems.

The widely used vaccines protect against Hib disease (Haemophilus influenzae type b), which used to be the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children under 5, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The vaccines were manufactured in West Point, Pennsylvania, and distributed starting in April 2007. (Reporting by Guo Shipeng; editing by Nick Macfie and Roger Crabb)