Bandim Health Project

CDC Awards $1.6 Million Grant for Controversial Hepatitis B Vaccine Study in Guinea-Bissau

- The CDC awarded a non-competitive $1.6 million grant to the University of Southern Denmark to conduct a randomized trial of neonatal hepatitis B vaccination involving over 14,000 newborns in Guinea-Bissau. - The study will assess all-cause mortality, severe morbidity, and long-term developmental outcomes of hepatitis B birth dose vaccination, entering an active scientific debate over non-specific vaccine effects. - Critics question the ethical rationale and methodology, noting that the Danish researchers' previous work has been challenged for over-interpreting findings and emphasizing secondary results that lose statistical significance after proper analysis. - The grant comes after ACIP voted to abandon the 34-year recommendation for universal newborn hepatitis B vaccination, despite evidence showing the practice has reduced childhood infections by 99% and prevented an estimated 90,100 deaths since 1991.