Guinea-Bissau has scrapped plans for a hepatitis B vaccine trial involving newborns after international criticism that the research would be unethical and potentially exploitative. The US funded the proposed study under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a long record of expressing scepticism about vaccines.
The trial was designed to enrol 14,000 newborns, with half given the vaccine and the remainder not receiving it despite World Health Organization recommendations. Health experts said withholding the shot could leave infants vulnerable to infection in a country where almost one in five people has hepatitis B.
The decision came after the government had already banned vaccine trials involving children. Police have also seized a batch of vaccines from the research centre at the heart of the controversy.
