With mounting info, PM Harris says ‘no evidence’ unethical herpes vaccine trial took place in St. Kitts

December 12, 2017 in National

In the face of international reports that a private home was used in St. Kitts to carry out an unethical herpes vaccine trial orchestrated by a United States researcher, St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris told parliament Monday there is no evidence that the activity took place in St. Kitts.

The matter of the herpes vaccine and stem cells scandals were raised by the opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party Parliamentary Representative for St. Christopher 2 (Central Basseterre), Hon. Marcella Liburd, when she questioned the prime minister’s credibility on several issues during the 2018 Budget Debate on Monday.

Ms. Liburd raised the question of 20 persons from the United States and Great Britain arriving in St. Kitts and passing through immigration and customs and the authorities were not aware.

“We have caused an investigation to be taken on that matter. The investigation has not revealed anything of what the Member for St, Christopher 2 is saying. We cannot get off in this realm that people pass through customs, because there is no evidence of it. We don’t know. Even if the allegation is true, we don’t know because the investigation has not yet been completed,” Harris told Parliament.

After the scandal broke in the American newspapers, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis announced in August it was launching an investigation to be conducted by the St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force. But the Opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party was critical of placing the investigation into the hands of police, suggesting it should be carried out jointly by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, the Customs Department in the Ministry of Finance and the Immigration Department in the Ministry of National Security to unsure it is not swept under the carpet.

For Prime Minister Harris to state in Parliament there is no evidence of the unethical herpes vaccine trial taking place in St. Kitts, flies in the face of credible investigations by numerous independent sources in the United States.

Last week, Southern Illinois University (SIU) disclosed to the United States government that it received information about the controversial, unregulated activities of William Halford, a deceased researcher who was found to be guilty of extreme misconduct in the conduction of trials for a herpes vaccine prior to his death in June 2017 from cancer.

The university chose not to reveal the origins of the source responsible for the tip, nor the information they had regarding Halford’s many incidences of professional misconduct for a period of months.

Kaiser Health News revealed last week that Halford had conducted an unregulated trial experiment during which he administered vaccinations to herpes-positive patients in hotel rooms during 2013 with absolutely no safety precautions in place, in direct violation of American laws.

The vaccinated patients stated that the hotel-room injection incidents occurred in 2013. Halford would yet again test a vaccine for herpes in a house located on St. Kitts, once again dismissing routine, regulatory safety precautions and oversight.

A memo attained by investigators and made public revealed that SIU may actually have had knowledge of Halford’s other activities as of late July, the memo declaring that unregulated trials on human subjects may have taken place at a date prior to the St. Kitts’ trials.

SIU is currently working with the Department of Health & Human Services as well as the FDA to investigate all claims and incidences of Halford’s illegal activities and vaccination trials before his death, to ensure all incidents of misconduct are brought to light.

The SIU memo added that Halford “intentionally and willfully” participated in research involving human subjects without legal oversight and approval.

Marisa Taylor of Kaiser Health News has interviewed five of the 20 participants in the clinical trial and several associates of the leader researcher William Halford.