The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is no longer recommending giving all infants a dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours after birth, approving a sweeping and highly controversial change recommended by the agency’s vaccine advisory panel.
The agency now officially advises women who test negative for the virus to consult health care providers about whether their babies should get their first doses within 24 hours of birth. Those mothers are recommended, in discussion with a medical provider, to delay the initial dose to at least 2 months of age.
The recommendation drew swift pushback from the medical community for upending 30 years of established guidance and practice.
It also marked the first major change to the childhood vaccine schedule endorsed by the newly reconstituted panel, whose members were handpicked by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines and childhood immunization policy.
Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill signed off on the recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) late Tuesday.
“This recommendation reflects ACIP’s rigorous review of the available evidence,” O’Neill said in a statement. “We are restoring the balance of informed consent to parents whose newborns face little risk of contracting hepatitis B.”
The agency did not adopt another controversial recommendation from the panel, that parents should consider blood tests for their babies to check for levels of antibodies to decide whether their child needs additional doses of the Hepatitis vaccine.
The Hepatitis B vaccine is typically given to babies as a three-dose series.
CDC in the statement said it was “reviewing” the recommendation.
The advisory committee’s recommendation on Hepatitis B vaccines came following a discussion rife with misinformation and cherry-picked data promoted by people with a history of vaccine skepticism.
The U.S. has been safely giving the Hepatitis B vaccine at birth since 1991, a move that has been credited with nearly eliminating the disease in young children.
Doctors and infectious disease experts said there is no evidence to back delaying the vaccine and they worry the new guidance will bring a resurgence of the virus
“Rolling back this recommendation creates confusion and doubt about vaccines, reverses hard-won progress in preventing hepatitis B, and will undoubtedly result in completely preventable illness and death,” Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, trustee of the American Medical Association, said in a statement.
“Physicians continue to recommend the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine for all newborns, and we encourage parents with questions about vaccines to talk to their physician,” she added.
Hepatitis B can be passed from mother to child during delivery, and not all pregnant women get screened for it. There is no cure.
Following the meeting, a host of public health experts, state officials and lawmakers called on O’Neill to ignore the recommendation, to no avail.
“Ending the recommendation for newborns makes it more likely the number of cases will begin to increase again,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a liver doctor who has treated patients with Hepatitis B, said on X after the meeting.
He added, “This makes America sicker.”
