In a decision that has sent shockwaves through the public health world, a federal vaccine advisory panel on Friday voted to end the decades-old recommendation that every newborn in the U.S. receive a hepatitis B vaccine at birth—a move critics warn could unravel one of the nation’s most successful disease-prevention strategies.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, backed two sweeping measures affecting the hepatitis B shot, despite forceful objections from leading pediatric and medical groups. The vote reshapes long-standing CDC guidance that has been in place since the early 1990s, a period during which hepatitis B infections plunged and infant transmission plummeted.
A Dramatic Reversal in U.S. Vaccine Policy
Hepatitis B remains a highly infectious liver virus spread through even microscopic traces of blood. It can cause life-long infection, cirrhosis, liver cancer and—at worst—death. For more than 30 years, the birth-dose vaccine has been the cornerstone of protection for the youngest and most vulnerable.
But ACIP’s new recommendation takes a drastically different path: parents should decide—using “individual-based decision-making”—if and when their child receives the vaccine.
The changes still require approval from Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neil, who is expected to sign off.
