The decision undoes a highly effective 34-year prevention strategy that has nearly eliminated early childhood hepatitis B infections in the U.S.
"The hepatitis B vaccine is safe and effective," said U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a Republican and a physician. "This makes America sicker."
The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, with members appointed by RFK Jr., voted to change longstanding recommendations on the hepatitis B vaccine.
The committee called for "individual decision-making."
The health department told a state official the outbreak may be linked to a gym.
Hospitals for decades have provided babies their first hepatitis B vaccine. Now doctors' offices might administer the shot.
Dec 5 (Reuters) - Vaccine makers expressed concern on Friday's decision by a U. advisory panel to scrap its long-standing recommendation that all infants receive a hepatitis B vaccine at birth, a shift that public health experts fear will undermine decades of public health advances.
ATLANTA - Federal vaccine advisers selected by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delayed until Friday a vote to lift a long-standing recommendation for all newborns to get the hepatitis B vaccine in what would be the most sweeping revision to the childhood vaccine schedule under Kennedy. The advisers heard presentations in the morning - including from two prominent vaccine critics recently hired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - casting doubt on the safety and necessity of
The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel once again delayed an expected vote on hepatitis B vaccines, after a chaotic meeting rife with misinformation.
Dec 4 (Reuters) - Vaccine advisers to U. were expected to vote on Thursday on whether to scrap a broad recommendation for the hepatitis B vaccine for children, a move that would leave the choice to parents in most cases.