ACIP Reverses Hepatitis B Vaccination Recommendation

The CDC’s immunization advisory panel, ACIP, has reversed its long-standing recommendation for worldwide hepatitis B vaccination at birth, effectively making it a personal choice to discuss with a doctor. This decision follows the replacement of all previous ACIP panel members earlier this year by RFK Jr. with individuals aligned with anti-vaccine stances.

As we discussed previously, the stakes are high. ACIP recommendations substantially influence insurance coverage, medical advice, and public health decisions regarding immunization. The newly appointed panel, lacking the expertise of its predecessors, has opted to move away from established medical consensus.

ACIP now suggests that whether or not newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine, and potentially avoid a painful and untimely death, is a decision for parents to make in consultation with their doctors, who may now be more inclined to advise against immediate vaccination.

On Friday morning, the ACIP voted 8-3 to remove its previous recommendation that all children in the U.S. be vaccinated against hepatitis B starting at birth. In its place, the panel is endorsing “individual-based decision-making” for determining when most children should get their first hepatitis B shot. Many outside groups and experts have sharply criticized the ACIP’s about-face, noting that scant credible data was presented to justify such a dramatic reversal.

“If that recommendation goes forward, it will be without evidence and will ignore over 30 years of existing evidence and gambles with the safety of children,” James Campbell, vice chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases at the American Academy of Pediatrics, told gizmodo.

CDC