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January 15, 2026<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n CDC Will Continue a Controversial Vaccine Study in Africa<\/p>\n This clinical trial in Guinea-Bissau would withhold vaccination from some babies, sparking ethical concerns<\/p>\n By Dan Vergano edited by Clara Moskowitz<\/span><\/p>\n The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) global headquarters during a meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on December 4, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia<\/p>\n Elijah Nouvelage\/Getty Images<\/p>\n A controversial hepatitis B vaccine safety trial will go on as planned in Africa, amid concerns over its ethics and design from medical experts. That\u2019s despite news reports of its cancellation, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n In December 2025 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the award of a $1.6-million grant to conduct the five-year HBV0-NSE trial to test the health effects of the long-used, effective hepatitis B vaccine on 14,000 newborns in Guinea-Bissau. Awarded without competition to controversial Danish researchers championed by antivaccine activists and HHS chief Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the announcement attracted criticism over the study\u2019s design. Hepatitis B is widespread in Guinea-Bissau, with prevalance of about 18.7 percent, and shortens lives\u2014it\u2019s linked to long-term liver cancer and cirrhosis. The trial would randomize half of the newborns to either receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth or get no vaccine in a bid to look at its short-term health effects.<\/p>\n On Thursday the Guardian reported that an Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) official had announced a halt to the trial, citing ethical concerns. Speaking on background, however, an HHS official told Scientific American on Thursday that the trial will proceed as planned.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n \u201cThis research aims to fill existing evidence gaps to help inform global hepatitis B vaccine policy and we will ensure the highest scientific and ethical standards are met,\u201d said an HHS spokesperson in a statement. The statement confirmed that half the babies in the study would not receive a vaccine and argued this was acceptable because the current policy in the African nation is not to provide a shot to newborns until 2027. (The U.S. started recommending the vaccine for all newborns in 1991, although the CDC\u2019s vaccine advisory panel recently voted to change that.) \u201cThe planned study represents the world\u2019s first and perhaps only opportunity to test the overall health effects of [hepatitis B vaccine],\u201d according to the statement.<\/p>\n HHS officials would not confirm that a study protocol leaked on Thursday by Inside Medicine represented the study design. That protocol drew comparisons to the infamous Tuskegee study of syphilis study because it failed to include testing for hepatitis B among most mothers in the trial and would thus effectively ensure that the life-shortening disease would be transmitted to unvaccinated babies.<\/p>\n \u201cThe protocol provides no ethical justification to withhold from vulnerable infants a lifesaving vaccine,\u201d says Wilbur H. Chen of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, a former member of the CDC\u2019s vaccine advisory panel.<\/p>\n The Africa CDC has not responded to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note (1\/15\/26): This story is in development and may be updated.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. 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I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 15, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm CDC Will Continue a Controversial Vaccine Study in Africa This clinical trial in Guinea-Bissau would withhold vaccination from some babies, sparking ethical concerns By Dan Vergano edited by Clara Moskowitz The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) global headquarters during a meeting of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[3130,2638,1044,6192,7403,188,811,78],"class_list":{"0":"post-41813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-continue","10":"tag-controversial","11":"tag-hepatitis","12":"tag-hhs","13":"tag-study","14":"tag-u-s","15":"tag-vaccines"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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