GoKawiilGuinea-Bissau formally rejects RFK Jr.-backed hepatitis B vaccine trial on infants
Guinea-Bissau's Council of Ministers reaffirmed on October 16 that it will not allow a clinical trial led by Danish researcher Christine Stabell Benn of Bandim Health Project, which was to be funded by the US and would have withheld the newborn hepatitis B vaccine dose from half its infant participants. The rejection followed a judicial police raid on Bandim Health's offices in which vaccines were seized, though Stabell Benn noted the raid came after the government's decision.
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The World Health Organization and other experts had called the trial unethical, arguing it lacked scientific justification given the vaccine's long safety record and that withholding it could expose infants in a high-hepatitis-B-prevalence country to lifelong infection risks including liver cancer. The episode highlights ongoing friction between vaccine skeptics within US health leadership and international public health bodies over study design and ethics in vulnerable populations.
- Guinea-Bissau's government formally blocked the trial on October 16.
- The study, backed by RFK Jr. and funded by the US, would have denied newborns a vaccine dose shown safe for decades.
- WHO and other experts had already criticized the trial as unethical and scientifically unjustified.
Source: arstechnica.com, 2026-10-22
Published there as: “"Unethical" vaccine trial on babies backed by RFK Jr. is formally canceled”
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