The World Health Organization (WHO), a pair of articles recently published in The BMJ have
revealed, is sponsoring an experimental study of a controversial
malaria vaccine among African children without obtaining informed
consent from parents.
Data from prior clinical trials of the vaccine, manufactured by the
British multinational pharmaceutical corporation GlaxoSmithKline (GSK),
have shown it to be associated with an increased risk of clinical
malaria after four years, a tenfold increased risk of meningitis, an
increased risk of cerebral malaria (in which the parasitic organisms
block the flow of blood to the brain, causing swelling and potential
brain damage), and an increased risk of death that was
disproportionately higher for female children.
Concerningly, apart from failing to properly inform parents about the
risks or even letting parents know that their children are being
experimented upon, the WHO intends to make a decision based on this
trial about whether to recommend the vaccine for routine use throughout
sub-Saharan Africa after just twenty-four months of study, which is not
enough time to determine the vaccine’s effect on mortality. |
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