CDC advisers could reverse newborn hepatitis B vaccine recommendations

A group of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing to vote on whether the agency should scrap its long-standing recommendation that every baby get a hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of birth

A group of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing to vote on whether the agency should scrap its long-standing recommendation that every baby get a hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of birth.

The shot — universally recommended for newborns in the U.S since the early 1990s — is credited with driving down cases of acute hepatitis B infections in kids by 99%. The virus, which can be passed from mother to baby during childbirth, can lead to liver disease and early death. There is no cure.

Despite its success, the hepatitis B vaccine has become the latest target of skeptics who question whether the benefits of the shot outweigh potential risks.

A vaccine given on “day one has a risk of neonatal fever, which causes more interventions” like blood work to determine the cause of the fever, said Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who practices at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Milhoan has been a member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) since June, when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all of its members, replacing them with his own appointees. On Monday, Milhoan was named the new ACIP chair, replacing Martin Kuldorff, a biostatistician who previously cast doubt on childhood vaccines, including the one for hepatitis B.