CDC to Fund Controversial Study in West Africa on Infant Hepatitis B Vaccines

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending $1.6 million to a Danish vaccine research group with ties to the U.S. anti-vaccine movement to study the effects of the hepatitis B vaccine in infants in West Africa.

Notice of the new grant — which the University of Southern Denmark submitted to the CDC “unsolicited” — was quietly posted to a federal website on Wednesday.

It comes on the heels of the CDC Advisory Council on Immunization Practices eliminating long-standing recommendations for hepatitis B vaccines for newborns. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. entirely reshaped that committee earlier this year to include vaccine skeptics.

The Danish research group, the Bandim Health Project, said it would conduct a five-year, randomized controlled trial in Guinea-Bissau of the hepatitis B vaccine — giving some infants the vaccine at birth, and others the “standard of care” in Guinea-Bissau, which is to provide the vaccine at 6 weeks of age, according to a statement announcing the grant.

The research group said it was taking advantage of a “unique window of opportunity”: The Guinean government will begin providing the hepatitis B vaccine at birth in 2027.

The announcement of the grant swiftly prompted an outcry among scientists on social media.

“It is unethical to do a randomized controlled trial in which you withhold a proven, life-saving vaccine from newborn babies,” Gavin Yamey, a professor of global health at Duke University, wrote on BlueSky.

Hepatitis B, which can cause liver failure, is a significant health issue in Guinea-Bissau, where a 2022 survey found that 12% of the population carried the disease. Jake Scott, a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, wrote on BlueSky that he questioned the choice to carry out the study in Guinea-Bissau, “a high-endemic setting where the birth dose matters most.”

A CDC spokesperson, Andrew Nixon, told NOTUS the award “supports an independent study designed to answer important questions about the broader health effects of the hepatitis B birth dose.”

“This 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,” he added.