Illegal sale of vaccines worth nearly $90 million has been uncovered by Chinese police last week. The event led police to arrest 37 people who were involved in the scandal in Shandong, the eastern province and the centre of the scandal. The scandal revealed downside of the world's second-largest medicine market.

The scandal which was reported by official Xinhua news agency on Wednesday has spurred angry debate in China. This also shows China’s inability to regulate a widespread medicine supply chain. "This vaccine safety case has drawn close attention, and shows there are many gaps in terms of regulation," Premier Li Keqiang said in a statement on the central government's website.

According to Li, authorities should upgrade the regulatory system surrounding vaccine production and distribution. Li also said that any dereliction of duty would not be tolerated. China's health ministry confirmed that so far, they hadn’t found any spike in abnormal reactions to vaccinations.

The fake vaccines for meningitis, rabies and other illnesses are suspected of being sold in many provinces around China since 2011. Shandong Zhaoxin Bio-tech Co, one of three pharmaceutical firms being probed, is prevented from carrying out operations and its license is also revoked.

According to a notice from the Shandong Public Security Department, a mother and daughter in Shandong had been selling illegal vaccines to hundreds of re-sellers around the country after buying them illegally from traders. The scandal would be overseen by China's top court, according to Xinhua.

Many angry parents showed their concerns against the scandal. A mother even was reported considering escaping from China with her child.