US-backed hepatitis B vaccine study halted in Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau has halted a US-backed hepatitis B vaccine study on newborns, pending an emergency ethical review. The country’s health minister says a six-member ethics committee never met before the study was approved, a major red flag.

The trial would randomly vaccinate some newborns and withhold the shot from others, tracking illness, death, and development. Critics say that’s unethical, because the vaccine is proven to protect babies in a country where hepatitis B is common.

Africa CDC leadership supports the review, saying decisions must serve African public health, not outside interests.

But US health officials insist the study is still moving forward. The project is funded by a $1.6 million no-bid US contract to a Danish research team linked to anti-vaccine controversies and praised by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The study planned to follow 14,000 newborns over five years, now, its future is uncertain.