A bold diagnostic: the risk to children’s health rises as U.S. vaccine advisers roll back decades of hepatitis B protection. This move, if upheld, could loosen standards that have kept hepatitis B infections far lower than before and may presage broader shifts away from evidence-based vaccination policies, according to pediatricians and infectious disease experts.
Since 1991, U.S. health authorities have recommended universal hepatitis B vaccination for newborns, starting with a birth dose administered within hours of birth. That strategy dramatically reduced new infections and has been credited with saving many lives, backed by federal data.
Earlier this week, a panel convened by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recommended restricting the birth dose to babies whose mothers are hepatitis B positive or whose mother’s status is unknown. For infants whose mothers test negative, the panel advised that vaccination timing—and even the decision to vaccinate at all—should be left to a discussion between parents and their child’s doctor.
