Local physician pushes back on federal committee’s hepatitis B vaccine vote

A Pittsburgh-based infectious disease physician pushed back on a federal vaccine advisory committee’s decision to change its stance on the hepatitis B vaccine. “This decision was made basically in defiance of all evidence because there is no safety risk for the hepatitis B vaccine,” Dr. Amesh Adalja told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 reporter Jordan Cioppa. On Friday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to end the recommendation that all U.S. babies receive the shot the day they’re born. “This vaccine recommendation was in place for a very real reason,” said Adalja, who is a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “Children were still getting infected with hepatitis B, even despite recommendations to test pregnant woman. People were falling through the cracks, and children were getting infected with hepatitis B.”He said contracting the virus as a child will more likely lead to liver disease, the need for liver transplantation, or death. The ACIP opted to recommend the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine for babies whose mothers tested positive or weren’t tested at all. For all other babies, the recommendation reversal leaves the decision to vaccinate at birth up to the parents and doctors. While Adalja said doctors will likely look to professional societies for guidance moving forward, he predicted the change will create confusion. “Because now you have the ACIP basically making an anti-vaccine statement, which is going to further increase vaccine hesitancy. Already about 20% of parents refuse the hepatitis B vaccine for their newborn,” Adalja said. He added that he suspects that number will go up.

PITTSBURGH —

A Pittsburgh-based infectious disease physician pushed back on a federal vaccine advisory committee’s decision to change its stance on the hepatitis B vaccine.

“This decision was made basically in defiance of all evidence because there is no safety risk for the hepatitis B vaccine,” Dr. Amesh Adalja told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 reporter Jordan Cioppa.

On Friday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to end the recommendation that all U.S. babies receive the shot the day they’re born.

“This vaccine recommendation was in place for a very real reason,” said Adalja, who is a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “Children were still getting infected with hepatitis B, even despite recommendations to test pregnant woman. People were falling through the cracks, and children were getting infected with hepatitis B.”

He said contracting the virus as a child will more likely lead to liver disease, the need for liver transplantation, or death.

The ACIP opted to recommend the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine for babies whose mothers tested positive or weren’t tested at all.

For all other babies, the recommendation reversal leaves the decision to vaccinate at birth up to the parents and doctors.

While Adalja said doctors will likely look to professional societies for guidance moving forward, he predicted the change will create confusion.

“Because now you have the ACIP basically making an anti-vaccine statement, which is going to further increase vaccine hesitancy. Already about 20% of parents refuse the hepatitis B vaccine for their newborn,” Adalja said.

He added that he suspects that number will go up.