HEALTH NEWS

Study Title:

Controversy Surrounding hCG Vaccines

Study Abstract

The WHO Symposium on the Safety and Efficacy of Vaccines to Regulate Fertility held in June 1989 recommended high priority for research into antifertility vaccines. The action of antifertility vaccines is based on autoimmunization, and they are targeted at specific molecules, so-called self-antigens naturally occurring in the human body. WHO's Human Reproduction Program had been involved in research on antifertility vaccines for 16 years. By 1989, 2 human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) vaccine types had passed 1st clinical trials in humans. The Human Reproduction Program had listed the advantages of antifertility vaccines as lack of side effects, long-lasting action following 1-2 injections, low manufacturing cost, and ease of delivery. Yet in health meetings all over the world women voiced their concern that current contraceptives research was biased toward methods that place efficient population control ahead of the well-being of women. The prevention of exposure of a significant number of unborn children to the vaccines' effects is of special concern, as pregnancies occur in the periods of partial immunity and at the end when the antibody concentration is declining. On the other hand, the major challenge is to ensure that the vaccine will be given only under safe conditions; that there will be no abuse, either for political or for demographic reasons; and whether the potential medical and political risks of the vaccines are not too great to continue the development of such contraceptive technology. Consumer representatives and social scientists voiced misgivings about the development of the vaccines during the symposium.

Study Information

Richter J.
Research on antifertility vaccines priority or problem?
Newsl Womens Glob Netw Reprod Rights.
1992 April