Overview
- ACIP voted 8–3 to replace the long‑standing within‑24‑hours birth dose with parent–clinician decision‑making for infants of hepatitis B–negative mothers, while retaining the birth dose for babies of mothers who are positive or untested.
- The vote does not change federal policy until Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill signs it, and reports indicate insurance coverage for the vaccine remains unchanged for now.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics and other physician groups condemned the move as unsupported by new evidence, and health officials in states including Arizona and Michigan said they will continue recommending the birth dose.
- Public‑health modeling cited in coverage estimates roughly 99,000 preventable infections if the birth dose is delayed, and experts note about 90% of infants infected at birth develop chronic infection.
- The committee was recently reconstituted by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and its meeting also entertained broader challenges to the childhood immunization schedule and aluminum adjuvants without new evidence prompting changes.