Overview
- ACIP voted 8–3 to stop recommending a routine birth‑dose for infants of mothers who test negative for hepatitis B, advising shared decision‑making and no first dose before two months in those cases.
- Care for infants born to mothers who are hepatitis B positive or whose status is unknown remains unchanged, with a birth‑dose still recommended.
- Major medical groups, including gastroenterology and infectious‑disease societies and the American Academy of Pediatrics, say decades of data support the birth‑dose and urge the CDC to maintain it.
- State and local authorities are preserving access: New Mexico and Baltimore reaffirmed newborn vaccination, and Colorado outlined steps such as emergency rulemaking and insurer coordination to keep the birth‑dose available.
- Doctors can still give the vaccine at birth and Medicaid and Vaccines for Children program coverage remains in place, yet clinicians warn the new guidance is sowing confusion and could increase infections if doses are deferred.