A US panel of vaccine advisers voted on Friday (12/05/2025) to suspend a long-standing recommendation to vaccinate newborns against hepatitis B, a highly contagious virus that can cause chronic liver disease in many infected children. The safe and effective vaccine has prevented more than 500,000 infections and more than 90,000 deaths in 30 years, according to experts.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, recently renewed by controversial Health Secretary, lawyer and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in favor (8 to 3) of allowing women who test positive for the virus to decide whether they want their babies vaccinated at birth. The committee says the decision must “take into account the benefits and risks of the vaccine and the risks of infection.”
The Committee did not modify the recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination in cases where mothers are reported to be infected or their status is inconclusive or unknown. These changes are not expected to affect health insurance coverage, although they represent a victory for the health department led by Kennedy Jr.
The decision poses “significant risks”
Many of the new members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization are close collaborators of the US Secretary of State, who fired the committee’s 17 members in June, citing the need to restore public confidence in the agency. The new advisors are figures criticized by the scientific community for their lack of experience or for promoting anti-vaccine theories.
More than seventy health policy experts and the American Public Health Association (APHA), which represents more than 23,000 members, warned of the dangers of ending or postponing this vaccination, which they described as “a milestone in children’s health policy in the United States.”
“This immunization schedule has virtually eliminated chronic hepatitis B virus infection in children. Since then, no evidence has emerged that casts doubt on the effectiveness or safety of universal newborn immunization,” APHA insisted in a statement, arguing that delaying or wrongly eliminating vaccination “poses significant health risks.”
DZC (EFE, AFP)