Opposition want answers on St Kitts herpes investigation

The opposition St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party is asking questions of the government’s investigation into a herpes vaccine trail that look place in the country in 2016.

In a statement posted online, the party is questioning whether the authorities are looking into the matter at all.

It emerged in August that an offshore vaccine trial had taken place in St Kitts in the summer of 2016, skirting traditional US safety oversight. At the time Jonathan Zenilman, chief of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center’s Infectious Diseases Division, described the trials as “patently unethical” and the government of St Kitts and Nevis’ chief medical officer said an “active investigation” was underway into the allegations.

He also said that no officials were aware of the trial taking place.

Months later, the opposition is putting pressure on the government to explain what they have discovered.

“To date, there has not been a single informative statement coming from the government regarding this so-called investigation. Each time the question arises, ‘the investigation is ongoing’ is the government’s response,” a statement said.

“Members of the general public have now gone from questioning the PAM/CCM/PLP coalition government’s investigative speed on the matter to stating that they are not convinced there is any investigation into the illegal herpes vaccine trial going on at all.”

There has been no response from the government to the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party comments.