00:00After weeks of back and forth, Guinea-Bissau has cancelled a proposed vaccine trial on
00:05newborn babies, over mounting criticism that it was unethical and exploitative.
00:12The trial was funded by the US under its vaccine-sceptical health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
00:19The study would have involved 14,000 newborns.
00:23Half would receive the vaccine, the other half would be denied, despite World Health
00:29Organization recommendations.
00:32Infants are at the greatest risk of being chronically infected with Hepatitis B when the virus is
00:38passed on from their mothers.
00:40Almost one in five people in Guinea-Bissau is infected.
00:45There's no cure for the disease and it can go on to cause long-term liver damage and liver
00:50cancer.
00:51Bissau had previously banned all vaccine trials involving children.
00:57Police have seized a batch of vaccines from the clinic at the centre of the controversy.
