The University of Southern Denmark has approved a disputed U.S.-funded study in Guinea-Bissau that would give the hepatitis B vaccine at birth to only half of the 14,000 newborns it plans to enroll. The university's dean of health sciences confirmed the decision this week, according to CIDRAP News.
The study, funded with $1.6 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, still cannot begin because Guinea-Bissau's government has not granted final authorization. The approval revives a project that health groups condemned as unethical earlier this year and puts U.S. public health dollars at the center of a global debate over research in low-income countries.
