Introduction: Vaccine research may have inherent value by contributing to the understanding of scientific advancement, but fundamentally it must establish instrumental value to benefit society, this constitutes the social value of research(Emanuel, Wendler et al. 2004). In practice however, individuals of resource limited settings can fail to gain from research in which they have participated because the process of translating research into local health improvements is uncertain (Graham, Logan et al. 2006). For this reason general access to proven health interventions at the outcome of a trial cannot be relied upon and therefore other mechanisms must be developed to enhance the social value of research. This empirical study asks, is then the ethical requirement of social value a determinant when setting the overall standard of care in research (SOC)? At present, this standard of care is poorly defined in guidance, if at all, and the approaches range from providing the ‘best care in the world’ to accepting the local healthcare system, which may be non-existent. This project examines whether the SOC of infant vaccine trials is set at a level that contributes to developing local knowledge and generalized health improvements, so providing social value. This project is an ethical evaluation of the overall standard of health care in research, with consideration for the socioeconomic and healthcare settings in which vaccine trials operate. The study asks, whether, if at all, the concept of social value operates as a determinant of this standard in the study institutions.