Outrage has erupted among health experts over news that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still eager to fund a widely condemned vaccine trial that would expose newborns in Guinea-Bissau to hepatitis B, putting them at high risk of a lifelong infection, which can lead to liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, and premature death. The trial was suspended in January after its unethical design came to light and drew international outcry. Though the trial is still halted, staff of the CDC director’s office told the agency’s budget office in late September to set aside $1.6 million to fund the trial, according to a report by Rolling Stone.
The money was to be pulled from funding for the CDC’s global health security programs, which might otherwise go toward efforts like combating the Ebola outbreak currently raging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, did not respond to a request for comment from Ars Technica. If the trial does move forward, it would be funded by the US but run by Danish researchers, who have separately been accused of misconduct.
In December, the CDC announced the award of an unsolicited grant for $1.6 million to a research group at the University of Southern Denmark, led by married couple Christine Stabell Benn and Peter Aaby. The pair have produced numerous studies that have been promoted by anti-vaccine advocates drawn concern and criticism from researchers. Stabell Benn and Aaby are currently under investigation by Danish authorities over allegations of “falsification” and “scientific misconduct” related to previous vaccine research.
In January, amid criticism of the trial, officials in Guinea-Bissau said they had suspended the research, saying ethical and technical reviews of the trial’s design were ongoing.
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