US-backed vaccine trial on babies canceled after international outcry
Government officials in Guinea-Bissau have formally rejected a clinical trial on newborns that was to be run by Danish researchers and funded by the United States. The trial would have withheld the hepatitis B birth dose from half of the participants. Police later searched the offices of Bandim Health Project and sealed a fridge containing vaccines meant for the study. The World Health Organization and many outside experts have criticised the trial as unethical. The researchers say the trial will not proceed, and that any future proposal would need local partnership and full ethical review.