Hong Kong (CNN) A Chinese vaccine manufacturer that released hundreds of thousands of batches of faulty vaccines, including a number intended for use on children, has been fined $1.32 billion by the government.

News surrounding the defective vaccines had sparked outrage in China earlier this year, including rare public protests outside government buildings, as parents asked how they could trust authorities to protect Chinese children.

Chinese state media said Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology had been fined for creating at least 100,000 defective rabies vaccines, which authorities have insisted were only ineffective, not dangerous.

"Violations included blending different batches of vaccine fluid, falsifying dates of production and using expired fluid to produce some of the batches," state media Xinhua said Tuesday.

The defective rabies vaccine was one of two major controversies to hit the vaccine company within the past year.