Guinea-Bissau Cancels US-Funded Hepatitis B Vaccine Trial After Ethics Outcry and Police Raid
Written by AI from aljazeera.com's report. Not checked by a person.
Guinea-Bissau has halted a controversial $1.6 million US-funded hepatitis B vaccine trial involving roughly 14,000 infants after the WHO and other experts condemned the study as unethical and police raided the research facility and seized vaccine batches in October.
Guinea-Bissau has cancelled a controversial hepatitis B vaccine trial funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with $1.6 million — money secured under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, who has previously expressed anti-vaccine views. The study was designed to compare health outcomes over five years in roughly 14,000 babies: one group would receive a birth-dose hepatitis B vaccine while a second group, chosen at random, would receive the same vaccine six weeks later. The Bandim Health Project — a Danish research group based in Bissau and part of the University of Southern Denmark — led the trial and has operated in the country since 1978.
When the trial was announced in December, it drew widespread condemnation. The WHO described the design as "unethical," and health experts argued the study would delay a proven, life-saving vaccine from thousands of babies in a country where roughly one in five of its 2.2 million people carry hepatitis B — one of the world's highest rates. Critics also raised concerns that the trial would be "open label," meaning researchers would know which babies received the vaccine and when, unlike the blinded approach standard in such studies.
The government paused the project in January and opened a review alongside the Africa CDC and the WHO. In mid-October, Health Minister Quinhin Nantote denied reports that the trial had received updated approval. On October 19, judicial police raided Bandim's Bissau facilities and seized vaccine batches. A few days later, Bandim researcher Frederik Schaltz-Buchholzer confirmed on LinkedIn that the trial "will not move forward in Guinea-Bissau," citing the lack of necessary government approval.
