US lawmakers have sent a letter to federal health officials demanding answers on how and why a controversial vaccine trial in West Africa received federal funding.

The letter from Democratic members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Acting Director Jim O’Neill asks for all documentation regarding the decision to award a five-year, $1.6 million grant to a team of Danish researchers conducting the study, which aims to assess the overall health impact of the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose in Guinea-Bissau. Half of the estimated 14,000 newborns enrolled in the randomized controlled trial will not receive the birth dose of the vaccine.

CIDRAP News first reported on the study in December, shortly after it was announced in the Federal Register. The trial has been widely criticized as unethical, given the known efficacy of a birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine and the high prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection in Guinea-Bissau. 

“Without the vaccine, as many as nine in ten infants could develop chronic infection that can lead to liver failure and death,” ranking committee members Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Diane DeGette (D-CO), and Yvette Clark (D-NY), wrote to O’Neill. “In that context, deliberately withholding a proven vaccine that has saved millions of lives globally for the sole purpose of examining theoretical, non-specific side effects may constitute a major breach of scientific ethics. And using taxpayer dollars in such a study rather than using those dollars to provide proven, life-saving vaccinations to babies is abhorrent.”

Trial’s status in question

Critics have also questioned the trial’s protocol, the track record of the researchers conducting the study, and why the CDC awarded the grant without the usual competitive process. The questions raised about the trial led the government of Guinea-Bissau to temporarily suspend it pending further review, although US officials maintain it’s going forward as planned.

The letter asks O’Neill to clarify the status of the trial, produce all versions of the study proposal and protocol, describe the CDC’s communications and coordination with Guinea-Bissau’s Ministry of Health, and provide any documentation regarding the decision to award the grant without a competitive process. 

Attendees of the National March for Life rally in Washington, DC last month may have been exposed to measles. 

DC Health issued a statement yesterday saying that people with confirmed cases of measles visited several locations while infectious between January 21 and February 2, including the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and the DC subway system. 

There have been at least six measles cases reported so far in Virginia this year. In other major exposure site news, a second measles case has been linked to exposure at Disneyland. The case-patient visited Disneyland Park on January 22.

Another setback for Minneapolis Somali community

Meanwhile, fear and unease during Operation Metro Surge operation in Minneapolis could be hindering measles vaccine efforts in the Somali community. Vaccine rates had started to increase slightly among the group, which has shown significant vaccine hesitancy in the past 20 years.

In 2006, 92% of Somali 2-year-olds were vaccinated against measles; last year, only 24% of 2 year-olds were vaccinated. There have been at least four measles outbreaks in the community in the past decade. 

According to the Associated Press, many Somalis now fear leaving their home during the prolonged Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in the Twin Cities, raising concerns among clinicians and public health professionals.

Finally, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) today said preliminary data from 2025 show a drop in the number of measles cases reported across the European Union, compared with 2024. However, these figures are still twice as high as those reported in 2023.

Between January and December 2025, 7,655 measles cases were reported by 30 countries. Eight individuals died following measles infection: four in France, three in Romania, and one in the Netherlands, ECDC said. 

Influenza vaccination is associated with significantly lower odds of myocardial infarction (MI), according to a large meta-analysis published late last week in BMC Public Health. 

In the study, researchers led by a team from Zhejiang Chinese Medical University in Hangzhou, China, gathered data from 15 observational studies, including seven cohort studies, seven case-control studies, and one self-controlled case series. Together, the studies involved 23.5 million people. Most participants were older adults, ranging from approximately 57 to 77 years.

In analyzing the pooled data, the researchers found flu vaccination was associated with an 18% reduction (range at the 95% confidence interval, 14% to 22%) in the odds of MI compared with unvaccinated controls. 

Consistent link across studies, patient groups

Subgroup analyses of the data found a consistent link between the flu vaccine and lower odds of heart attack across different types of studies and patient groups. When the team looked at age-stratified results, they found that vaccinated people 70 and older and those 70 and younger had comparably lower risk of heart attack. The same negative association held true for those who had previously had a heart attack compared with those who had not. The flu vaccine was associated with lower odds of MI in both cohort and case-control studies.

Heart attacks tend to be more common during flu season, note the authors, suggesting that viral infections may trigger systemic inflammation and raise the risk of cardiovascular events. 

“Influenza vaccination could potentially reduce the risk of MI by alleviating the systemic inflammation and endothelial dysfunction associated with infection,” the authors write. 

The analysis had some limitations. All included studies were observational and hence cannot establish causality, and flu vaccination was broadly defined, so information on the frequency and timing of vaccination was limited. 

Still, “this meta-analysis indicates that influenza vaccination is associated with lower odds of myocardial infarction,” write the authors, who called for future studies to “clarify the underlying mechanisms and to refine the understanding of this association in contemporary populations.”