WHO Defends Vaccine Safety Test Standards
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reaffirmed that "extremely high" safety standards are already in place for vaccine development, in response to reports about changes in US testing procedures.
WHO vaccine chief Kate O’Brien told journalists in Geneva, "We are confident in the assessments that go on around vaccines. The safety of vaccines is held to an extremely high standard."
However, O’Brien was asked about a Washington Post report indicating that US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. aims to shift the way vaccines are tested, requiring all new vaccines to undergo placebo testing. Medical experts warn that such a move could potentially limit access to vaccines and undermine vaccine confidence.
O’Brien stressed that the "gold standard" process for vaccine development already calls for placebo testing when developing completely new vaccines against diseases for which no immunization options exist. However, she warned that existing vaccines that are altered to cover new strains could also be considered new vaccines, and it could be unethical to give test subjects a placebo instead of "vaccines that are life-saving that are already licensed."
O’Brien emphasized that the quality of clinical trials and safety assessments are at the heart of vaccine development. She urged people with power and influence to help boost confidence in the safety, efficacy, and importance of vaccines, which have saved more than 150 million lives in the past five decades.
The WHO warned last week that outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, meningitis, and yellow fever are on the rise globally amid misinformation and cuts to international aid. Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic who has promoted disproven theories linking childhood vaccines to autism, has also made false claims about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine containing "aborted fetus debris."
O’Brien said, "Some of these statements around what is used to produce measles and rubella vaccine, they’re not accurate statements." She urged people with power and influence to help boost confidence in the safety, efficacy, and importance of vaccines.
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Reference : https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-defends-vaccine-safety-standards.html
