By: Manoah Kikekon
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| Hypothesis B vaccine |
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has announced the cancellation of a controversial, United States-funded study involving hepatitis B vaccines in Guinea-Bissau.
The decision follows a wave of international backlash and internal scrutiny regarding the trial’s ethical framework, which critics argued risked the lives of thousands of West African infants. The $1.6 million study, funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), had initially sought to investigate the effects of delaying the first dose of the vaccine in newborns.
Professor Yap Boum, the deputy incident manager for mpox at Africa CDC, confirmed the halt during a media briefing on Monday. He stated that the proposed research design failed to meet acceptable international ethical standards, particularly concerning the safety of a vulnerable population. According to Boum, the Africa CDC only supports research that informs health policy without compromising human rights, emphasizing that any study conducted on the continent must strictly adhere to globally recognized humanitarian principles.
The core of the controversy centered on a randomized design where half of the 14,000 enrolled infants would receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, while the other half would have their dose delayed by six weeks. Public health experts and ethicists warned that withholding a proven, life-saving vaccine in a high-burden region like Guinea-Bissau was "unconscionable." Hepatitis B is a major public health threat in sub-Saharan Africa; early-life infection significantly increases the risk of chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, and fatal liver cancer later in life.
While the U.S. government initially defended the study as a way to understand the "non-specific effects" of vaccines, the Africa CDC’s intervention underscores a growing demand for local oversight and accountability in foreign-funded trials.
Observers suggest that the cancellation marks a significant moment for African health sovereignty, signaling that the continent will no longer serve as a testing ground for research that would be deemed unethical in Western nations. For now, Guinea-Bissau will continue its existing vaccination efforts as it prepares for a universal birth-dose rollout in the coming years.