In a development that will surprise absolutely no one who has been paying attention to the intersection of vaccine skepticism and international research ethics, judicial police in Guinea-Bissau raided the offices of a controversial vaccine research group on Monday, seizing doses of hepatitis B vaccines. The researchers in question have been repeatedly praised by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, who once called them "the deities of vaccine research" at an anti-vaccine conference. Deities, it turns out, are not immune to investigative procedures.
The police search, announced on Facebook and translated from Portuguese, involved "investigative procedures aimed at clarifying the circumstances related to the said batch of vaccines." Officials were careful to note that seizing the immunizations did not point to "irregularities in the quality, safety, or effectiveness of the vaccines" - a clarification that somehow fails to make the situation feel any less like a scene from a slightly absurd procedural drama.
The researchers at the heart of this are affiliated with the Bandim Health Project, which recently posted a letter of approval for a trial from Guinea-Bissau's national ethics committee at the ministry of public health, dated 14 July and signed by committee president Mouhammed Djicó Ould Ahmed. A Danish research ethics committee, which had to change its rules just to consider a clinical trial, also approved the study earlier this month. The trial is supported by $1.6m from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), matched by the Pershing Square Foundation and the Bluebell Foundation for a total of $3.2m. So, to recap: millions of dollars, international approval, and a police raid. The gods of vaccine research work in mysterious ways.
The study was redesigned over the summer, but it would still deny hepatitis B vaccines to 7,000 newborns in the first six weeks of life - in a country where about one in five adults have the virus. Hepatitis B kills 15% to 25% of people with chronic infections, causing cancer and liver failure, and newborns are particularly vulnerable. Vaccination within 24 hours of birth is safe and highly effective at preventing illness. This is the part where the phrase "deities of vaccine research" starts to feel less like praise and more like a warning label.
Quinhin Nantote, health minister of Guinea-Bissau's transitional government, disputed reports that the trial would move forward. "This is not even remotely true," Nantote told the Guardian in Portuguese on Thursday. A firm denial, delivered with the weary tone of a man who has had quite enough of this particular circus, thank you very much.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has weighed in as well. "Any study that would deny the vaccine to participants was unethical and exposes newborns to serious and potentially irreversible harm," said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević, calling hepatitis B vaccination at birth an "essential public health intervention." Through its country office in Guinea-Bissau, the WHO and its partners have been advising the ministry of health on the planned introduction of the hepatitis B vaccine and the potential impact of this study. In other words, the adults in the room are trying to do damage control while the self-proclaimed deities conduct their business.
The Bandim Health Project was founded in 1978 by anthropologist Peter Aaby and is now co-led by his wife, Christine Stabell Benn, an epidemiologist. Kennedy has repeatedly praised their work, citing a study they conducted on the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine - a study the same researchers later conducted again and found completely different results. Even so, Kennedy called Aaby a "very famous" researcher on Joe Rogan's podcast in 2023 and cited his research when he halted US funding to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Consistency, it seems, is for mortals.
Stabell Benn was a member of the hepatitis B working group of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), helping present evidence to the US committee that voted to end the universal birth recommendation before such decisions on vaccines were stayed by a federal judge. She also hosted a podcast with Tracy Beth Høeg, a former top official with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) who said she wanted to end "unnecessary" vaccines. Aaby, Stabell Benn and Frederik Schaltz-Buchholzer, the lead researcher on the project, did not respond to the Guardian's questions about the trial and the police search. The deities, it appears, are not taking questions at this time.
According to a report from the non-profit Stand Up for Science (SUFS), the Bandim organization is deeply enmeshed in Guinea-Bissau but has done little to improve the country's health and research capacities in five decades of operation. The organization is now fundraising to help roll out the vaccines at birth to all newborns in the country - a heartwarming pivot, assuming the police don't get there first.
"Our investigator encountered significant distrust of Bandim by the citizenry of Guinea-Bissau," said Colette Delawalla, an American health researcher and founder of SUFS. "However, because of the lack of public health infrastructure, Bandim is often the only option in situations where people are desperate to access medical care of any kind." The police raid, Delawalla said, underlines the fact that Guinea-Bissau is a "fragile" nation that experienced a military coup less than a year ago. The country lacks the stability needed for clinical trials, she added. "Guinea-Bissau is in the difficult situation of trying to protect their youth, their future, from exploitation by two powerful western nations and they are using what leverage they have to do so." A sobering assessment, delivered with the quiet dignity of someone who has watched this particular train wreck from the ground level.
So there you have it: a police raid, a disputed trial, a health minister's firm denial, and a WHO spokesperson gently explaining that denying vaccines to newborns is, in fact, bad. The deities of vaccine research have had better weeks. The rest of us, meanwhile, are left to ponder the timeless question: if you need a police warrant to clarify your vaccine trial, perhaps your research isn't quite as divine as advertised.