Guinea-Bissau is still considering a controversial hepatitis B vaccine trial funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We didn't have sufficient evidence from our ethics committee, and that is the difficulty we had in taking any decision,” said Dr. Armando Sifna, the director-general of public health from Guinea-Bissau, said through a translator during a press briefing on Thursday. “We have not yet held a meeting for the approval at the level of the country.”
The U.S. CDC awarded, without competition, Bandim Health Project at the University of Southern Denmark a $1.6 million, five-year grant to study the “health effects” of hepatitis B vaccinations on newborns in Guinea-Bissau, with half the babies vaccinated at birth and the others reportedly not vaccinated for it. Guinea-Bissau has a 19% hepatitis B prevalence rate.
About the author
Sara Jervingsarajerving
Sara Jerving is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global health. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, VICE News, and Bloomberg News among others. Sara holds a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she was a Lorana Sullivan fellow. She was a finalist for One World Media's Digital Media Award in 2021; a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2018; and she was part of a VICE News Tonight on HBO team that received an Emmy nomination in 2018. She received the Philip Greer Memorial Award from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2014.
