Key facts
- Guinea-Bissau formally rejected the hepatitis B vaccine trial on October 16.
- Police seized vaccine doses intended for the trial on October 23.
- The trial was criticized for withholding the hepatitis B vaccine from half of the newborns.
- The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded a $1.6 million grant for the trial.
Guinea-Bissau's Council of Ministers formally rejected a clinical trial involving the newborn dose of the hepatitis B vaccine on October 16, according to an email from lead researcher Christine Stabell Benn. This decision came after judicial police raided the Bandim Health Project's offices and seized vaccine doses on October 23. The trial, funded by a $1.6 million grant from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had been widely criticized by global health experts and the World Health Organization as unethical for withholding the vaccine from half of the participating newborns.