Guinea-Bissau Police Raid Researchers Studying Hep B Birth Dose Safety

Judicial police in Guinea-Bissau, a country in west Africa, raided the offices of the Bandim Health Project which has been conducting research on Hepatitis B vaccines with funding from the CDC. Law enforcement seized a batch of hepatitis B vaccines and said the raid was part of “investigative procedures aimed at clarifying the circumstances related to the said batch of vaccines.” They clarified that the seizure did not indicate there are irregularities in the vaccines’ quality, safety, or effectiveness. The raid occurred amidst an ongoing debate over a proposed randomized trial examining the overall health effects of adding a hepatitis B birth dose in a country that does not yet routinely administer one.

The Bandim Health Project was founded in 1978 by anthropologist Peter Aaby and co-led with epidemiologist Christine Stabell Benn. The organization has studied mortality and morbidity associations with vaccines in West Africa since its founding nearly five decades ago. The organization has published more than a thousand papers and trained dozens of researchers. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has praised the work of Aaby and Stabell Benn and has called them “the deities of vaccine research.”

The CDC provided an unsolicited grant of $1.6 million for the proposed study known as the HBV-NSE trial. The project has received $3.2 million total to conduct the study, which would enroll about 14,000 newborns in Guinea-Bissau. The country currently has a hepatitis B prevalence of about 20% among adults, and the current national childhood vaccine schedule for the country provides infants with a hepatitis B vaccine dose at six weeks of age. The country has plans to potentially introduce a birth dose of hepatitis B beginning in 2028.

Guinea-Bissau currently gives the oral polio vaccine and the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, which primarily protects against Tuberculosis, to newborn babies on the day of birth. The proposed research would evaluate whether adding the hepatitis B vaccine to the birth dose schedule would be safe, beneficial, and effective. They would evaluate mortality, infection-related hospital admissions, and other early health outcomes.

All participants in the research would receive the birth dose of BCG and oral polio, while half of the subjects would also receive a birth dose of hepatitis B and the other half would receive the hepatitis B vaccine at six weeks of age. Researchers would also conduct maternal Hep B screening with informed consent. Participants who test positive or who decline the screening will get the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. Half of the study participants will receive a birth dose of hepatitis B that they would otherwise not receive until six weeks of age under the country’s current vaccine schedule.

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement in February condemning the research as unethical. WHO insists the birth dose of hepatitis B is proven safe and intentionally withholding that dose from children in a high-prevalence setting is unethical. The trial is currently suspended pending further review. The researchers state that ethical approvals and government authorization must be in place before they can recruit participants.

A 2023 study in the Lancet Global Health found there was no statistically significant difference in infection rates for children who received a birth dose versus children who received the hepatitis B vaccine at six weeks from mothers who tested HBsAg-negative in sub-Saharan Africa.

Aaby and Stabell Benn wrote a response to a December 2025 report from the Guardian that called their proposed research “highly unethical” and “extremely risky” while stating it “reeks of a neocolonialist attitude.” The researchers explained that the goal is to study non-specific events (NSEs) from vaccines, specifically the immune system response following a vaccination that could alter its ability to defend against “all kinds of disease organisms,” and not just the vaccine disease organism. “The mindset in ‘vaccinology’ has become inquisitional-religious rather than curious and humble,” Aaby and Stabell Benn wrote.

“Underlying this discussion is the challenge that all current vaccination policies are based exclusively on whether the vaccine protects against the vaccine-targeted disease, e.g., measles vaccine (MV) against measles infection or DTP vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis infections,” the researchers added. “This was because historically it was not known that vaccines could have other effects. It is now clear that vaccines can stimulate the broader immune system.”

Aaby and Stabell Benn referenced the high-titer measles vaccine recommended by the WHO in 1989 that was later withdrawn in 1992 after research showed a two-fold increase in female mortality. The researchers said the approval was based on whether the vaccine was effective in preventing measles and that NSEs were not considered. Aaby and Stabell Benn

In the United States, there has been an ongoing debate about the need for a birth dose of hep B for mothers who test negative. Senator Bill Cassidy has frequently advocated for the birth dose and has condemned Secretary Kennedy for even having the discussion about the necessity of a hepatitis B birth dose. The CDC has long stated that hepatitis B spreads through blood, semen, or other body fluids. The agency also states that it cannot be spread through kissing, sharing utensils, sneezing, coughing, hugging, breastfeeding, food, or water.

The Hepatitis B Foundation states, “Hepatitis B is NOT transmitted casually. It cannot be spread through toilet seats, doorknobs, sneezing, coughing, hugging, or eating meals with someone who is infected with hepatitis B.”

This underscores the position of Secretary Kennedy, Senator Rand Paul, and others who have stated there is no need for a hep B birth dose unless the mother tests positive for the virus. Aside from vertical transmission from the mother to the newborn baby, hepatitis B is primarily spread through contaminated needles, unprotected sex, and use of illegal drugs.

Paul Offit, co-inventor of the Rotavirus vaccine, called the proposed experiment in Guinea-Bissau, “RFK Jr.’s Tuskegee Experiment.” Offit has also previously claimed that hepatitis B can be transmitted casually on surfaces like towels and that they remain virulent for at least seven days. The 1981 study he referenced used dry infected blood stored at room temperature for one week before being reconstituted and injected into chimpanzees. This study is not relevant evidence to prove the incidence of casual hepatitis B transmission.