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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s federal vaccine advisory committee has voted to end a long-standing recommendation that all American infants be vaccinated against hepatitis B on the day they are born.
The government has advised this for decades All babies should be vaccinated Against liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered a public health breakthrough, preventing thousands of diseases.
But RFK Jr.’s committee voted to recommend a birth dose only for infants whose mother tests positive or whose infection status is unknown.
For other babies, it will be up to the parents and their doctors to decide whether the dosage at birth is appropriate.
For parents who do not receive the dose at birth, vaccination against hepatitis B is recommended to begin no earlier than 2 months of age.
Some members of the committee said the risk of infection is low for most infants and argued that previous studies looking at potential harm from the vaccine were small and potentially insufficient to detect long-term harm.
Several medical and doctors’ groups expressed concern in anticipation of the vote, saying that concerns were speculative and that the decision would mean more children would be infected.
Acting Director of Centers for Disease Control and PreventionJim O’Neill is expected to decide later whether to accept the committee’s recommendation.
Voting delayed after chaotic meeting
The vote came a day later Vaccine advisor chosen by RFK Jr. seemed confused Who were they voting for regarding the Hep B shot.
Members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices – which were appointed by Kennedy earlier this year – appeared surprised The language regarding Thursday’s vote was changed several times, CNN reported.
As a result, voting was moved to Friday.
“This is the third version of most questions [ACIP] received within 72 hours, committee member Dr. Joseph Hibbeln said Thursday. We are trying to evaluate a moving target.
This is not the first time that voting on the hepatitis B vaccine has been delayed.
The committee was initially expected to vote on proposed changes to hepatitis B vaccination in September. But it was redefined after there was not enough evidence to ensure a “confident evidence-based recommendation,” said Dr. Robert Malone, vice president of ACIP.
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, fired all 17 members Committee this summer. He replaced them with eight new members, whom he said were “committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.”
But the move worried some medical experts, who noted at the time that some of the new members had been critical of vaccinations.
Although the committee’s guidelines are not prescriptive, the CDC generally follows its recommendations. The guidelines influence what doctors advise patients, shape state vaccine policies and help determine insurance coverage.