Experts fear ‘unethical’ vaccine trial in Africa is ‘prototype’ for US studies

New details are leading experts to fear that an "unethical" vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau could serve as a prototype for studies under Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of health and human services and longtime vaccine critic. Danish researchers are at the centre of the controversy; the suspended trial would have given hepatitis B vaccine at birth to only half of newborns despite an 18% prevalence of the illness among adults and its potential to cause serious, sometimes fatal, outcomes.

Stand Up for Science sent an investigator to Guinea-Bissau, met with members of Congress on 19 February, and produced an unreleased report raising concerns about how deeply the Bandim Health Project is enmeshed in the country’s public health system and the ethical challenges that poses for research under Kennedy.

Guinea-Bissau

guinea-bissau, rfk jr, hepatitis b, vaccine trial, bandim health, danish researchers, newborns, ethical concerns, public health, congress