Bill Gates, the King of eugenics in today's world, has helped, via his foundation, to fund a trial being run on African mothers on the use of an oral vaccine against Norovirus. The company running the trial is Vaxart, funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Vaxart Doses First Subject in Phase 1 Trial of Its Norovirus Vaccine Candidate in Lactating Mothers

Whenever I read of drug or vaccine trials run in developing nations, my spidey senses start tingling REALLY badly! You see, drug companies love to run trials where they don't have to do too much inconvenient explaining or worry about having to give that. pesky informed choice. If the subject doesn't speak the same language as the company running the trial - bonus!

Normally, drug trials have to go through an awful lot of hoops and paperwork before they are tested.

In Australia, the way in which clinical trials are supposed to be managed is determined by the government. Supposedly. It is not unknown for these requirements to be avoided, evaded, folded, spindled or mutilated. But here is what the rules state:

Clinical trial and research ethics

A human research ethics committee must agree that a clinical trial is ethical before it can go ahead.

The ethics committee has a range of members that include:

at least two members of the public

a person who performs pastoral care in the community

a lawyer

researchers

people with professional caring experience, such as a nurse or allied health professional

In Australia, people must understand all the facts about a clinical trial before they can agree to take part. This is known as informed consent.