A now-halted plan to run a hepatitis B vaccine trial involving thousands of newborns in Guinea-Bissau has been criticised by the World Health Organization as unethical. The US-funded study had sought to give one set of babies the vaccine at birth, while another would have had the shot delayed until six weeks of age. The WHO said it had significant concerns about the plan, and described the birth-dose vaccine as an effective and essential public health intervention, with a proven record.
The US health department, headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has questioned the effects of vaccines, aimed to use the trial to address concerns regarding the jab's broader health effects. The WHO stated that its concerns involved the study's scientific justification, ethical safeguards, and consistency with established standards for research involving humans.
It stressed that the jab had been used for more than three decades in over 115 countries, and that giving a proven life-saving intervention to some newborns but not others exposes them to potentially irreversible harm. With a significant portion of Guinea-Bissau's population estimated to have hepatitis B, the WHO asserts that vaccination at birth can prevent the virus from being transmitted from mother to baby in 70-95% of cases.
The WHO recommends that all newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth, highlighting that infection at birth is the most common way of developing a lifelong infection. Currently, the dose is administered at six weeks in Guinea-Bissau, but authorities plan to implement the birth dose nationwide by 2028. A total of 14,000 babies were expected to participate in the trial, but public outrage led the government of Guinea-Bissau to suspend it last month. Critics, including the country’s former health minister, have emphasized that Guinea-Bissauans are not 'guinea pigs' for such experiments. The WHO's findings and growing apprehension regarding vaccine testing in vulnerable populations amplify the call for ethical standards in health research.
The US health department, headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has questioned the effects of vaccines, aimed to use the trial to address concerns regarding the jab's broader health effects. The WHO stated that its concerns involved the study's scientific justification, ethical safeguards, and consistency with established standards for research involving humans.
It stressed that the jab had been used for more than three decades in over 115 countries, and that giving a proven life-saving intervention to some newborns but not others exposes them to potentially irreversible harm. With a significant portion of Guinea-Bissau's population estimated to have hepatitis B, the WHO asserts that vaccination at birth can prevent the virus from being transmitted from mother to baby in 70-95% of cases.
The WHO recommends that all newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth, highlighting that infection at birth is the most common way of developing a lifelong infection. Currently, the dose is administered at six weeks in Guinea-Bissau, but authorities plan to implement the birth dose nationwide by 2028. A total of 14,000 babies were expected to participate in the trial, but public outrage led the government of Guinea-Bissau to suspend it last month. Critics, including the country’s former health minister, have emphasized that Guinea-Bissauans are not 'guinea pigs' for such experiments. The WHO's findings and growing apprehension regarding vaccine testing in vulnerable populations amplify the call for ethical standards in health research.
