CDC advisory panel votes to limit hepatitis B vaccines for newborns | Trump administration
Vaccine advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted Friday morning to limit hepatitis vaccines in a major move that signals the Trump administration’s reactionary approach to vaccines that have been given safely and effectively for decades.
A panel of advisers to US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has voted to lift the blanket recommendation that all newborns in the US be vaccinated against hepatitis B.
For babies of mothers who test negative for hepatitis, the committee voted 8 to 11 to recommend that parents, in consultation with their health care provider, decide when and whether to get their child the vaccine series. Parents who choose to postpone vaccination are advised to give the first dose no earlier than two months later.
Experts said the move would add confusion to routine vaccinations and create access problems, especially for low-income families. While advisors provide nonbinding recommendations, they often form the basis of official policy and directly affect how private and federal insurance providers cover vaccines.
“This will lead to an increase in preventable infections among children,” said Michaela Jackson, program director of prevention policy at the Hepatitis B Foundation. He said the vote was “taking away choice by creating barriers to access” and that “parents will no longer know who to trust.”
More details coming soon…
Reuters contributed reporting
