The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee (CC)'s Propaganda Department on March 23, 2016, instructed all government-controlled media outlets to "play down" the recent scandal about the sale and distribution of improperly stored vaccines by unlicensed vendors in Shandong. Media outlets are forbidden from publishing feature stories or to send reporters to cover the story in Shandong. Instead, they are required to "reprint government press releases and news reports by central media outlets only." A report on Caixin published in 2013 on the Shandong's vaccine scandal has been deleted. Hong Kong's Hsin Pao reported that discussions of the plight of 20 children who received problematic vaccines were widely circulated on social media before their removal.