A court in the Chinese capital has upheld the sentencing of the father of a child sickened by a tainted tuberculosis vaccine to five months in labour camp after he repeatedly campaigned for public acknowledgement of the problem.
The Beijing Intermediate People’s Court upheld the sentence of five months’ “re-education through labour” handed to parent activist Yang Yukui on Tuesday, during a brief closed-doors session with no trial, his wife said.
The couple’s five-year-old son Yang Xinhao has been in and out of hospital ever since being given a bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination shortly after birth, they say.
“There was no trial, just a sentence,” said Yang’s wife, Zhou Suying, who attended the sentencing. “The original sentence of five months was upheld [on appeal].”
Yang’s detention came during one of several trips to the Beijing Children’s Hospital to try to persuade staff to address his son’s problem after the child developed strange swellings across his body following a BCG vaccination for tuberculosis.
Yang Xinhao experienced widespread swelling of his lymph nodes following the jab, according to his parents.
The problem appears to be commonly reported in China.
Source: Healthcare Today, 2nd September 2011. Full article here:http://www.healthcare-today.co.uk/news/labour-camp-for-vaccine-dad/19604/
