GoKawiilCDC sets aside $1.6M for suspended Guinea-Bissau hepatitis B vaccine trial
Rolling Stone reports that CDC director's office staff instructed the agency's budget office in late September to earmark $1.6 million for a vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau that was suspended in January after being widely criticized as unethical. The trial, which would expose newborns to hepatitis B risk, is to be run by Danish researchers Christine Stabell Benn and Peter Aaby, who are currently under investigation by Danish authorities for alleged scientific misconduct. HHS did not respond to a request for comment.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The funding would reportedly be diverted from CDC global health security programs, which Rolling Stone notes could otherwise support the ongoing Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, raising questions about competing priorities within the agency. The involvement of researchers already under misconduct investigation adds to concerns among health experts about the trial's scientific and ethical integrity even before it has resumed. Guinea-Bissau's own suspension suggests local authorities have not resolved the ethical and technical concerns that halted the study.
- CDC allegedly set aside $1.6 million for a suspended, widely criticized hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau.
- The funds would reportedly come from global health security programs that could otherwise support Ebola response efforts in the DRC.
- The trial's lead researchers are under investigation by Danish authorities for alleged scientific misconduct.
Source: arstechnica.com, 2026-10-09
Published there as: “Outrage grows as CDC reportedly poised to fund "unethical" vaccine trial”
Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.