Guinea-Bissau has officially shut down a controversial hepatitis B vaccine trial that was funded by the Trump administration, after strong criticism from the World Health Organization and health experts worldwide.
The trial sparked outrage because it planned to give only half of the newborn babies the hepatitis B vaccine immediately at birth, while the other half would receive it later at six weeks. Scientists warned that delaying a proven, life-saving vaccine could put infants at serious risk.
The government had suspended the study last month for an ethical review, but Foreign Minister Joao Bernardo Vieira confirmed this week that the trial has now been completely closed.
“It’s not going to happen, period,” he said, citing concerns raised by the scientific community and U.S. senators.
The study was supported by a $1.6 million grant approved by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers from the Bandim Health Project planned to enroll around 14,000 newborns to explore possible “non-specific effects” of vaccines, including neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism.
Critics argued the trial risked fueling discredited claims linking vaccines to autism — a theory promoted by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., despite overwhelming scientific evidence rejecting such a connection.
The WHO insisted that withholding an essential vaccine from some infants could cause “potentially irreversible harm,” stressing that the hepatitis B birth dose is a proven and necessary public health measure.
The lead investigator, Frederik Schaltz-Buchholzer, said politics had overtaken science and warned that halting the trial could hurt trust in vaccine research. Researchers say they may submit a revised proposal in the future.
SOURCE : TRT AFRICA
