Report: CDC Staff Sought $1.6 Million for a Halted Vaccine Trial

A vaccine trial that would expose newborns in Guinea-Bissau to hepatitis B — putting them at high risk of a lifelong infection — is still halted. According to a report by Rolling Stone, staff in the CDC director's office told the agency's budget office in late September to set aside $1.6 million to fund it anyway. The notable part is the mechanism: not a public relaunch of a stopped study, but an internal instruction to line up the money for one. That is not the same thing as a funded trial, but it is the kind of step that comes before one.