BEIJING: The Ministry of Health Tuesday confirmed three children's illness were related to vaccines, reported to be problematic in north China's Shanxi Province.

On March 17, the Beijing based China Economic Times run by the Development Research Center of the State Council reported, citing Chen Tao'an, a whistleblower who worked with the Shanxi CDC in 2007, that nearly 100 children had died or fell ill in Shanxi after taking shots of the vaccine.

The report named 15 children out of 78 that received vaccines including encephalitis, hepatitis B and rabies at different times. Four children died between 2007 and 2008, and 74 were sickened, according to the report.

"The cause of the illness of the rest 12 children were not related to vaccines," Deng said.