US vaccine advisers say not all newborns need a hepatitis B shot at birth
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal vaccine advisory committee voted on Friday to end the longstanding recommendation that all U.S.babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born.A loud chorus of medical and public health leaders decried the actions of the panel, whose current members were all appointed by U.S.
Health Secretary Robert F.Kennedy Jr.
— a leading anti-vaccine activist before this year becoming the nation’s top health official.“This is the group that can’t shoot straight,” said Dr.William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University vaccine expert who for decades has been involved with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and its workgroups.Several medical societies and state health departments said they would continue to recommend them.
While people may have to check their policies, the trade group AHIP, formerly known as America’s Health Insurance Plans, said its members still will cover the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth.The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses.But Kennedy’s advisory committee decided to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive, and in cases where the mom wasn’t tested.For other babies, it will be up to the parents and their doctors to decide if a birth dose is appropriate.
The committee voted 8-3 to suggest that when a family elects to wait, then the vaccination series should begin when the child is 2 months old.President Donald Trump posted a message late Friday calling the vote a “very good decision.”The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jim O’Neill, is expected to decide later whether to accept the committee’s recommendation.Asked why the newly-appointed committee moved quickly to reexamine the recommendation, committee member Vicky Pebsworth on Thursda...