Experts fear ‘unethical’ vaccine trial in Africa is ‘prototype’ for US studies under RFK Jr : Shared by Tom McDermott

We can welcome that this unethical vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau was paused thanks to the intervention of WHO and NGO groups like Stand up for Science.  But the threat of more such maneuvers by the current department of Health and Human Services may reappear elsewhere.  Tom 

Author: Melody Schreiber

Publication: The Guardian

Date: 11 March 2026

Link: Click here for the article

Summary: A suspended hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau is raising fears among experts that it represents a model for future US-funded research under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. The trial, led by Danish researchers from the Bandim Health Project, would have vaccinated only half of newborns at birth despite an 18% adult prevalence rate of hepatitis B — a disease with potentially fatal consequences. 

Stand Up for Science, a US nonprofit, sent an investigator to Guinea-Bissau and shared findings with Congress warning of deep ethical concerns, including the researchers' long-standing institutional entrenchment, a compromised local ethics committee, and severe informed consent challenges due to low literacy and language barriers. 

The Danish researchers have close ties to the current US administration: Kennedy has cited lead researcher Peter Aaby as influential to his vaccine views, and colleague Christine Stabell Benn sat on the CDC's advisory committee on immunization practices. 

The University of Southern Denmark has paused all work related to the study pending independent WHO ethical review. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the trial "unethical," and Guinea-Bissau's foreign minister stated it "is not going to happen." 

The US had allocated $1.6 million to the trial — funds that experts say could instead vaccinate every newborn in Guinea-Bissau for the next decade. Kennedy had previously cut US support for Gavi, which had been funding a planned 2027 hepatitis B birth-dose rollout in the country.

Quotes:

"We are fearful that this is a prototype for other studies." — Colette Delawalla, founder, Stand Up for Science

"Guinea-Bissau does not have a single credible institution in public health research at this point in time." — Magda Robalo, former Minister of Health, Guinea-Bissau

"It is unethical to proceed with this study." — Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization