The False Narrative of Nonspecific Vaccine Effects

The Bandim Health Project, which follows a population of more than 200,000 individuals in urban and rural Guinea-Bissau, is associated with the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) and headed by Professor Christine Stabell Benn. This research group has long contended that live (attenuated) vaccines have beneficial nonspecific effects (NSE) beyond the target disease(s) and that non-live vaccines have detrimental NSE, even lethal ones. Recent reporting contends that there is no robust evidence to support NSE, either beneficial or harmful, and that the Bandim Health Project has a long history of deceptive publishing. These issues have recently been in the news in Denmark.

One could be fooled by the numerous publications that claim NSE exist. But the truth is that NSE found in observational studies have never been replicated in the primary outcome analyses of a proper RCT. In my opinion, this is the worst form of misinformation: postulates supported by weak data disguised as science. Reflect on how difficult it has been to refute the measles-autism link – as it was published in The Lancet. Yes, the paper was retracted, but to this day we are still struggling to put down this false narrative.

For some time, I found the scientific literature on NSE puzzling. Gradually, I became appalled and then indignant as I dug deeper into literature. I discovered disturbing patterns of dubious methods and research standards.

I am not a researcher, and I am not an expert in vaccines. I am an MD, I hold a PhD in ophthalmology, and a diploma of journalism. I work in and teach research communication – and my take on NSE is from this perspective. Quite frankly, it is a mystery to me how researchers in NSE have managed to analyze and communicate their results in ways that are incompatible with generally accepted scientific standards and practices. This has gone on for decades.

Thorough review of the medical literature shows that there is no strong evidence to support the existence of NSE for DTP, MMR, BGC, or polio. Hence, when the recently confirmed HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. refers to a study on the DTP vaccine killing children by a Danish research group doing research in Africa – he is either mistaken or willfully misleading.

The study Kennedy is referencing is a small, observational study with post hoc analysis of historical data conducted by the Bandim Health Project. Further, the Bandim group was unable to replicate their own findings, when the hypothesis – that the DTP vaccine as a non-live vaccine is killing children – was revisited in 2018 and again in 2022.

In an overview article published in the Danish Medical Journal, I reviewed the largest and the most recent studies. Table 1 from this article gives an overview, albeit in a foreign language. The non-significant findings on hazard ratios (HR) and mortality rate ratios (MRR) are self-explanatory.

Presumably a properly powered RCT would set things straight. And while the leader of the Bandim Health Project, Professor Christine Stabell Benn, in February of 2025 pointed a finger at the WHO and advocated that more studies are needed to establish the safety of the DTP vaccine – it has come to light that the RCT she claims is needed, was already conducted. In fact it was conducted a long time ago. From 2005 – 2011 the Bandim Health Project conducted a large RCT, including 6534 children: NCT00244673.

The primary outcome of this RCT was overall child mortality. And the study’s Principal Investigator was SDU Professor Peter Aaby, colleague and husband of Christine Stabell Benn. But 14 years after study completion, the researchers from the Bandim group have still not published the primary outcome, child mortality from DTP.

By 2018 the Bandim group had somehow already forgotten about their own RCT (NCT00244673) conducted in Guinea-Bissau – a high mortality area, because in this expert review authored by Christine Stabell Benn and Peter Aaby, they write that it has not been possible to conduct RCTs of DTP in high-mortality areas:

The explanation/ excuses on not publishing the mortality data from the RCT (NCT00244673) given by Christine Stabell Benn and Peter Aaby in the Danish newspaper, Weekendavisen on 20 February 25 was the following (translated from Danish):

“The study was affected by both joyful and sorrowful events. Jane (Jane Agergaard, the PhD student who conducted the experiment, ed.) had to leave early due to pregnancy, and her field supervisor passed away. Jane did not have research time for long-term follow-up, and we did not have new resources to continue.”

Notwithstanding, practical challenges pertaining to the publication of mortality data from NCT00244673 – it has been 14 years and trial results have not been published even on clinicaltrials.gov. Not publishing the mortality data – while simultaneously calling out for more studies - I consider highly unethical and definitively noncompliant with the Declaration of the Helsinki (item #7).

In 2025, the narrative on NSE and on DTP having deadly effects is being told over and over again throughout the world and even on Capitol Hill, and with consequences already to show for in the US, where vaccination coverage is declining. Standing up against peer-reviewed misinformation on NSE is more important than ever.

Charlotte Strøm, MD, PhD, Journalist. Founder and owner of SharPen, Medicine in Media. Author of the Nonspecific Vaccine Effects Journal Club on LinkedIn.