Overview
- The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel voted 8–3 to drop the decades-old birth-dose recommendation for infants of HBsAg-negative mothers, advising individualized decisions with clinicians.
- If the birth dose is deferred, the committee suggested starting the hepatitis B series no earlier than two months of age.
- A separate 6–4 vote encouraged parents to consider post-vaccination antibody testing, which CDC experts noted is not standard pediatric practice.
- Newborns whose mothers test positive for hepatitis B or lack documented screening would still receive the birth dose under the recommendation.
- The reconstituted panel appointed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced immediate pushback from leading medical groups and dissenting members, who warned the change could increase pediatric infections and reverse gains since the 1991 policy.