Story perspectives

Trump's Controversial $1.6M Vaccine Study Faces Ethical Backlash

12/20/2025

Summary

Story summary

U.S. President Donald Trump awarded a $1.6 million no-bid contract to the University of Southern Denmark for a hepatitis B vaccination study in newborns in Guinea-Bissau.
The study lacks a placebo group and withholds vaccines from some infants, drawing ethical concerns and critics' comparisons to the Tuskegee Study.
The CDC did not conduct a customary ethics review, while researchers say the work is needed for Guinea-Bissau's 2027 universal vaccination.

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Story summary

U.S. President Donald Trump awarded a $1.6 million no-bid contract to the University of Southern Denmark for a hepatitis B vaccination study in newborns in Guinea-Bissau.
The study lacks a placebo group and withholds vaccines from some infants, drawing ethical concerns and critics' comparisons to the Tuskegee Study.
The CDC did not conduct a customary ethics review, while researchers say the work is needed for Guinea-Bissau's 2027 universal vaccination.