U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looks on as he attends a press conference to discuss health insurance reform, at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 23, 2025.<\/p>\n
Kevin Mohatt | Reuters<\/p>\n
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s hand-picked vaccine committee<\/a> is scheduled to vote<\/a> Thursday on whether to change a longstanding recommendation<\/a> that every baby get vaccinated against hepatitis B within 24 hours of birth.\u00a0<\/p>\n It’s unclear if the panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, will significantly delay or eliminate that so-called birth dose of the shot entirely. The group tabled a vote <\/a>on the vaccine in September because some members called for a more robust discussion first.<\/p>\n But either change could have wide-ranging consequences: Some public health experts say that having fewer newborns vaccinated against the virus could risk an increase in chronic infections among children.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hepatitis B, which can be passed from mother to baby during childbirth, can lead to liver disease and early death. There is no cure.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We have a vaccine that is highly effective at preventing an incurable disease. We should take full advantage of that,” Neil Maniar, a public health professor at Northeastern University, told CNBC.\u00a0<\/p>\n The birth dose recommendation was introduced in 1991 and is credited with driving down infections in kids by 99%<\/a> since then. Maniar called that a “remarkable success story that we run the risk of reversing” if the committee changes the recommendation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Decisions by the panel are not legally binding, as it is up to states<\/a> to mandate immunizations. But ACIP’s recommendations have significant implications for whether private insurance plans and government assistance programs cover the vaccines at no cost for eligible children.\u00a0<\/p>\n The panel’s upcoming two-day meeting in Atlanta comes after Kennedy earlier this year gutted the committee and appointed<\/a> 12 new members, including some well-known vaccine critics. During the meeting in September, some advisors raised questions about whether the benefits of the shot outweigh potential safety risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the jab is “an incredibly safe vaccine with minimal risks,” Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Infectious Diseases, said during a media briefing Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I never once saw a fever actually associated with hepatitis B vaccine,” said O’Leary, who practiced for eight years as a general pediatrician and worked in a newborn nursery.\u00a0<\/p>\n The AAP, which publishes its own vaccine schedule,\u00a0still recommends<\/a>\u00a0the universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine because “it saves lives,” he added. <\/p>\n A new review<\/a>, published Tuesday, of more than 400 studies spanning four decades also found no evidence that delaying the universal hepatitis B vaccine birth dose improves safety or effectiveness. The review also found that the birth dose does not cause any short- or long-term serious adverse events or deaths.<\/p>\n A 2024 CDC study<\/a> showed that the current vaccination schedule has helped prevent more than 6 million hepatitis B infections and nearly 1 million hepatitis B-related hospitalizations.<\/p>\n Merck<\/a> and GSK<\/a> manufacture the hepatitis B vaccines used starting at birth. Neither of the shots are significant revenue drivers for the companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, Merck during the panel’s September meeting pushed back on changing the recommendation.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The reconsideration of the newborn Hepatitis B vaccination on the established schedule poses a grave risk to the health of children and to the public, which could lead to a resurgence of preventable infectious diseases,” Dr. Richard Haupt, Merck’s head of global medical and scientific affairs for vaccines and infectious diseases, said at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. 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