Guinea-Bissau Police Search Offices of Vaccine Research Group Praised by RFK Jr

Judicial police in Guinea-Bissau searched the offices of the Bandim Health Project research group and seized dozens of doses of hepatitis B vaccine, according to a statement posted on the force's Facebook page. The action comes amid a long-running controversy over a study involving African newborns.

According to a statement translated from Portuguese, the search was carried out on Monday and involved "investigative procedures aimed at clarifying the circumstances surrounding the vaccine batch in question." The statement also stressed that the seizure of the vaccine did not imply any "abnormality in the quality, safety or efficacy of the vaccine."

The Bandim Health Project recently published an approval letter from Guinea-Bissau's National Ethics Committee, part of the Ministry of Health, dated 14 July and signed by committee chair Mouhammed Djicó Ould Ahmed. A Danish research ethics committee – which had to amend its rules in order to review a clinical trial – also approved the study earlier this month.

However, Guinea-Bissau's transitional government health minister, Quinhin Nantote, rejected reports that the trial would go ahead. Responding in Portuguese, he said: "That is not even remotely true."

The study was redesigned over the summer but would still withhold hepatitis B vaccine from 7,000 newborns during their first six weeks of life, in a country where about one in five adults carries the virus. Hepatitis B kills 15% to 25% of people with chronic infection, through cancer and liver failure, and newborns are especially vulnerable – while vaccination within 24 hours of birth is safe and highly effective at preventing the disease.

World Health Organization spokesperson Tarik Jašarević said any study that denies vaccine to participants is "unethical and exposes newborns to serious, potentially irreversible harm," describing hepatitis B vaccination at birth as "an essential public health intervention." He said that through its country office in Guinea-Bissau, the WHO and partners had advised the Ministry of Health on plans to introduce the hepatitis B vaccine and on the potential impact of the study.

The Bandim Health Project was founded in 1978 by anthropologist Peter Aaby and is now co-led by his wife, epidemiologist Christine Stabell Benn. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has repeatedly praised their work, calling them "gods of vaccine research" at a recent anti-vaccine conference. He has also frequently cited the group's findings on the diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis (DTP) vaccine, even though the group itself later redid the work and reached a completely different result. In 2023, Kennedy called Aaby a "very famous" researcher on Joe Rogan's podcast and cited his research when U.S. funding for the Gavi vaccine alliance was halted.

Stabell Benn was previously a member of the hepatitis B working group of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), taking part in presenting evidence to the committee when it voted to end its universal recommendation for infant vaccination, before the decision was stayed by a federal judge. She also hosts a podcast with Tracy Beth Høeg, a former senior official at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who has said she wants to end "unnecessary" vaccines.

Aaby, Stabell Benn and Frederik Schaltz-Buchholzer – the project's lead researcher – did not answer the Guardian's questions about the trial and the search.

According to a report by the nonprofit Stand Up for Science (SUFS), Bandim is deeply embedded in Guinea-Bissau but has done very little to improve the country's health and research capacity over five decades of operation. The organization is now raising funds to support the rollout of vaccines for newborns nationwide.

Colette Delawalla, a U.S.-based medical researcher and founder of SUFS, said: "Our investigators noted considerable distrust of Bandim among people in Guinea-Bissau. However, because of the lack of public health infrastructure, Bandim is often the only option in situations where people are desperately seeking medical care."

According to Delawalla, the search shows that Guinea-Bissau is a "fragile" state that experienced a military coup less than a year ago and lacks the stability needed for clinical trials. She said Guinea-Bissau finds itself in a difficult position, having to protect its young generation and its future from being exploited by two powerful Western countries, and is using every lever available to do so.