Vaccine advisory panel votes against Hep B vaccines at birth
Hep B vaccines discouraged at birth: CDC
A federal vaccine advisory panel voted Friday to change longstanding national vaccination guidance for newborns, according to The Associated Press. How Atlanta health care workers feel about the latest move.
ATLANTA - A federal vaccine advisory panel voted Friday to change longstanding national vaccination guidance for newborns, according to The Associated Press. Instead of recommending that every baby receive a hepatitis B vaccine at birth — a strategy in place since 1991 — the panel advised limiting the early dose to infants whose mothers test positive for the virus or whose status is unknown.
What we know:
The recommendation states that when the birth dose is skipped, vaccination should begin at two months of age. The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jim O’Neill, will determine whether to formally adopt the policy. The change would mark a return to an approach abandoned more than 30 years ago, when universal newborn vaccination led to a sharp decline in pediatric hepatitis B infections.
What they're saying:
Supporters of the new guidance argued that the risk of hepatitis B exposure in most newborns is minimal, and that early studies on infant safety did not include large, long-term tracking.
Panel members also argued that parents should receive more complete conversations from clinicians before consenting to a birth-dose injection. Some members said delaying until two months reflects a point where infants are no longer neonatal, though several members questioned whether scientific evidence supports that cutoff.
A committee member said pressure from stakeholder groups contributed to the decision to revisit the policy, though those groups were not identified publicly.
The other side:
Major medical and public health voices strongly criticized the vote, including experts who said the committee ignored extensive evidence showing the birth dose has prevented thousands of infections.
Physicians noted that hepatitis B in infancy can lead to lifelong liver disease, cancer or cirrhosis, and that immediate immunization has proven successful in reducing transmission. Critics also pointed out that the committee now operates without CDC scientists presenting disease-surveillance or safety data and includes several members who have publicly challenged vaccine science.
Some researchers and medical groups described the process as driven by ideology rather than evidence and warned that reversing universal newborn vaccination could increase preventable infections. The CDC’s acting director is not required to approve the recommendation, leaving the final outcome undecided.