Concerns Over Vaccine Trial
The WHO stated today that “exploiting scarcity is not ethical.”
The organization emphasized that the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine is a vital public health measure, noting its effectiveness over the past thirty years in over 115 countries.
“It prevents life-threatening liver disease by blocking mother-to-child transmission during birth,” the WHO remarked, highlighting that chronic hepatitis B affects more than 12 percent of adults in Guinea-Bissau.
In a section titled “Why withholding the vaccine is unethical,” the WHO outlined various dangers associated with the trial.
From the publicly available details, the protocol appears to neglect even basic harm reduction measures, such as screening pregnant women and vaccinating newborns at risk of hepatitis B, the WHO stated.
By withholding a proven lifesaving vaccine, newborns could be subjected to severe and possibly irreversible consequences, including chronic infections, cirrhosis, and even liver cancer. The agency argued that there’s no scientific reason to deny this intervention, nor is there credible evidence backing the safety concerns claimed by the trial’s researchers. The WHO pointed out that the trial could potentially be biased due to its single-blind, no-treatment-controlled design, which could hinder the interpretation and relevance of the findings.
Currently, the trial seems to be on hold. A report from Nature News indicated that during a press conference on January 22, health officials in Guinea-Bissau announced that a technical and ethical review was still pending. “There has not been enough coordination to make a final decision about the study,” stated Guinea-Bissau’s public health minister Quinhin Nantote. “Given this situation, we chose to suspend it.”
Previously, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention signaled that the trial would not progress. However, the US Department of Health and Human Services has claimed it is “proceeding as planned.”
