A controversial US-funded study on hepatitis B vaccines for newborns in Guinea-Bissau has been cancelled following widespread criticism over its ethics. The decision was confirmed by Yap Boum of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, who said the trial’s design raised serious concerns about withholding proven vaccines from infants in a high-risk country.
The $1.6m study, overseen by the US Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, had drawn comparisons to unethical historical experiments. Critics argued it would deny thousands of children a life-saving vaccine by chance.
Although some US officials suggested the study could be redesigned, senior figures in Guinea-Bissau have confirmed its cancellation due to ethical issues. Public health experts and researchers have welcomed the move as a victory for research ethics and African-led decision-making, stressing that scarce funding should be used to expand vaccination, not test whether children should receive it at all.
