Via the Daily Observer: Two Liberian Doctors Clash over Ebola Vaccine Trials Kennedy Says ‘Yes’, Golakai, “No” to Vaccine Trials. Excerpt:
As public suspicion about the Ebola vaccine trials continues in the country, the debate is heightening over the pros and cons, and future impacts of the vaccines on public health.
The most recent debate on the issue involved two Liberian medical doctors, Stephen Kennedy, Co-investigator of the Partnership for Research on Ebola Vaccine in Liberia (PREVAIL) and Vuyu Kanda Golakai, Dean of the A.M. Dogliotti College of Medicine, University of Liberia (UL).
The two medical doctors made their presentations on February 27 at the Stella Maris Polytechnic, during the Liberia Civil Society Organizations Ebola Response Task Force 3rd Dialogue forum on the theme, “Details of the Vaccine Trial and Its Impact on Public Health.”
The two doctors strongly differed with each other on the administration of the vaccines in principle, each defending his side why it is necessary to conduct the trial here in Liberia, and why it should not.
Representing the pros, Dr. Stephen B. Kennedy said he took the vaccine three weeks ago and he continues to be healthy.
He said Phases One and Two of the trial vaccine were tried in the United States, Canada and Switzerland, and Phase Three that requires testing in an Ebola-affected country came to Liberia, because it is an affected country.
Regarding the safety of the trial vaccine, Dr. Kennedy said it is 100 percent safe but it is associated with fever, weakness and pain in the body.
He failed to state what may happen in case of the death of a volunteer. However, he clarified that the vaccine trial in Liberia will come with historical recognition, royalty and many scholarships for Liberians, if successful.
He began with the criticism that the old folks in the medical field, including his former instructor, Dr. Golakai, had failed to deliver to the Liberian health system the needed deliverables, and therefore they, the younger generation, are now in the driver’s seat to bring to reality what their predecessors failed to achieve.
He encouraged people to believe in the trial vaccines, claiming that others have tried vaccines in their countries and Liberia benefitted from the results.
Dr. Kennedy, who received the highest number of questions and comments during the debate also failed to clearly state the impact of the trial vaccine on public health.
On the issue of sufficient public awareness about the trial vaccine, he said the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare conducted public awareness and that there is no reason for any Liberian to be suspicious of the process.
However, in early February at a press conference in Monrovia Dr. Kennedy admitted to the error that PREVAIL did not involve the media and civil society in the discussions surrounding the trial vaccine, which, according to him, created public suspicion.
On the other hand, tough and straight talking Dr. Golakai, who sides with the cons in the debate, criticized the decision to carry on the vaccine trials that he said was reached at the top and could not go through scientific research, procedures and debates.
Though he said he does not have qualms with the vaccine research as it is, Dr. Golakai contended that the trial of the vaccines is deceptive and that even U.S. citizens would not allow the trials to be conducted upon the orders of President Obama until scientists there had held sufficient discussions and assured the nation of its safety.
“The President of this country, the Legislature and the Judiciary have no right to allow clinical trial vaccines to be conducted without hearings that involve those who studied medicine in this country,” he charged.
He told the gathering that the decision about the vaccine trials was made at the government level and they as medical practitioners were forced to comply.
