US university under fire for off-the-grid herpes vaccine experiments in hotel rooms
Professor William Halford, who died in June, allegedly performed unauthorised tests - reportedly leading to side-effects in the test subjects, some of whom are now suing
Southern Illinois University’s (SIU) medical school has halted all herpes research, one of its most high-profile projects, amid growing controversy over a researcher’s unauthorised methods offshore and in the United States.
SIU’s ethics panel launched a “full” investigation December 5 of the herpes vaccine experiments by university professor William Halford, according to a memo obtained by Kaiser Health News (KHN).
Halford, who died in June, had reportedly injected Americans with his experimental herpes vaccine in St Kitts and Nevis in 2016 and in Illinois hotel rooms in 2013.
He did so without routine safety oversight from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or an institutional review board, according to ongoing reporting by KHN. Some of the participants say they are experiencing side effects.
They realise now they were used as guinea pigs in outrageously unethical experiments
The panel, known as the Misconduct in Science Committee, told SIU’s medical school dean that the inquiry should not only investigate the extent of Halford’s alleged wrongdoing, but also scrutinise “members of his research team,” according to the December 5 memo obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.