Experts fear for US childhood vaccine schedule after hepatitis B guideline change

Key Highlights

• Kennedy after he fired the previous advisers in an unprecedented move to enact dramatic changes to US vaccination policy.
• Kennedy has been a frequent critic of vaccines. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) makes recommendations to the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who decides whether to change official policy.
• The recommendations also have sweeping effects on state-level policies and insurance coverage.
• Some states have laws based on recommendations made by the ACIP. The panel’s landmark vote to change the hepatitis B recommendation will create confusion and access issues for families, and questions about routine vaccines more widely indicate a worrying trend, experts said.“It’s really very devastating to have seen what unfolded today,” said Susan Wang, a pediatrician and the former lead for prevention of perinatal hepatitis B at the CDC.
• “It’s also laying the groundwork for destroying the rest of the childhood immunization schedule.”Robert Malone, vice-chair of the ACIP and an outspoken critic of vaccines, raised doubts about the vaccination schedule, calling it the “elephant in the room” on Friday.“The specific elephant, in this case, has to do with cumulative risk across the entire childhood vaccine schedule – and that is a risk for which we do not have adequate data,” he said.