A protest outside the CDC headquarters in Atlanta earlier this month against the decision to change the recommendations for the hep B vaccine. rik S Lesser/EPAA protest outside the CDC headquarters in Atlanta earlier this month against the decision to change the recommendations for the hep B vaccine. rik S Lesser/EPACDC ends recommendation for all US newborns to receive hepatitis B vaccineChange marks an abrupt end to 30 years of established medical guidance and follows vote earlier this monthThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday ended a long-standing recommendation that all US newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine. The agency’s move follows a vote from health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine advisory panel that a birth dose should only be given to newborns whose mothers test positive for hepatitis B or whose status is unknown. Experts fear for US childhood vaccine schedule after hepatitis B guideline changeRead moreThe CDC will now advise parents to consult a healthcare provider to decide whether infants born to hepatitis B-negative mothers should get the vaccine, including the birth dose.“We are restoring the balance of informed consent to parents whose newborns face little risk of contracting hepatitis B,” acting director of the CDC and deputy health secretary Jim O’Neill said in a statement. If parents choose not to vaccinate their newborn at birth, but feel vaccination is warranted, the agency now recommends that they wait at least two months to get the child a first dose of the vaccine. The policy change marks an abrupt end to 30 years of established medical guidance.
