"A loud chorus of medical and public health leaders decried the actions of the panel, whose current members were all appointed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - a leading anti-vaccine activist before this year becoming the nation's top health official. "This is the group that can't shoot straight," said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University vaccine expert who for decades has been involved with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and its workgroups."
"But Kennedy's advisory committee decided to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive, and in cases where the mom wasn't tested. For other babies, it will be up to the parents and their doctors to decide if a birth dose is appropriate. The committee voted 8-3 to suggest that when a family elects to wait, then the vaccination series should begin when the child is 2 months old."
A federal vaccine advisory committee voted to end the longstanding recommendation that all U.S. newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine on the day of birth. The committee recommended the birth dose only for infants whose mothers test positive for hepatitis B, and when maternal status is unknown, leaving other families and clinicians to decide and suggesting the series begin at two months if families delay. Many medical societies and state health departments said they will continue recommending the birth dose, and the insurance trade group AHIP said members will continue coverage. The acting CDC director must decide whether to accept the recommendation.
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