A United States-backed study in West Africa on the effects of the hepatitis B vaccine is facing scrutiny from the World Health Organization and UNICEF, researchers involved in the study tell NOTUS.
Officials from the two international public health groups met with members of the Bandim Health Project earlier this week to discuss their recent announcement of a five-year, randomized controlled trial in Guinea-Bissau, in which some infants would receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth and others at six weeks, according to Peter Aaby, the Danish researcher who heads the group.
Aaby told NOTUS that the meeting was called in response to news coverage criticizing the study, including an article in The Guardian in which vaccine experts called the study “highly unethical.”