Particle.news
Download on the App Store
28 ARTICLES
·
9m ago

CDC Vaccine Panel Delays Hepatitis B Birth-Dose Vote, Reconvenes Today

Revised proposals would replace the universal newborn shot with risk-based guidance centered on parental decision-making.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - DECEMBER 4: Dr. Robert Malone speaks during a meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at CDC Headquarters on December 4, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. The ACIP is meeting to vote on changes to the childhood vaccination schedule and delay hepatitis B shots. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
Stock photograph of a newborn baby sleeping in a hospital bassinet
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meets to discuss childhood vaccine schedule at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., December 5, 2025. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer
FILE - Committee member Vicky Pebsworth, speaks during a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the CDC, Sept. 18, 2025, in Chamblee, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

Overview

  • After a chaotic session marked by last-minute wording changes, ACIP voted 6–3 to postpone Thursday’s decision and return Friday to consider reworked motions.
  • Draft language would keep an automatic birth dose for infants of mothers who test positive and reaffirm it when status is unknown, while suggesting shared decision-making with a possible delay to at least two months for infants of mothers who test negative.
  • Public-health experts and more than 30 Democratic lawmakers urged maintaining the universal birth dose, citing decades of safety monitoring, a 99% drop in pediatric hepatitis B since 1991, and modeling that predicts roughly 1,400 additional infections annually if the dose is delayed to two months.
  • Any rollback could disrupt coverage and access because federal programs such as Vaccines for Children and many private insurers tie benefits to ACIP recommendations, potentially complicating birth-dose availability in hospitals.
  • The meeting underscored concerns about process and politicization after RFK Jr. replaced prior members, with vaccine-critical testimony and stigmatizing claims about immigrants and gay men drawing criticism from physicians and former CDC leaders.