Means defended removing the newborn dose of the hepatitis B vaccine from the childhood immunization schedule.
The country's foreign minister told Reuters the controversial trial is "not going to happen."
Rates climbed from 68% in January 2017 to a peak of 84% in February 2023 before dropping to 73% by August 2025.
Up to 90% of infants infected with hepatitis B at birth develop chronic liver infections.
The study involves hepatitis B vaccination in Guinea-Bissau, where nearly one in five people are chronically infected with the virus.
Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the acting CDC director regarding the $1.6 million award to a controversial hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau.
Health officials in Guinea-Bissau say a committee reviewing the controversial study needs more information before it can make a final decision.
African officials say a controversial study of the hepatitis B vaccine—scheduled to begin this month—may be canceled, but US officials differ.
The category sounds reasonable, even collaborative. It is neither. And it will put children’s health and lives at risk.
The agency is paying University of Southern Denmark researchers to conduct a single-blind clinical trial of the hepatitis B vaccine in newborns in Guinea-Bissau.
