The US CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has formally ended the 30 year-old recommendation that all US newborns get the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth.
The move came after a vote from health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine advisory panel that a birth dose should only be given to newborns whose mothers test positive for hepatitis B or whose status is unknown.
The choice now lies with the parents, in consultation with a healthcare provider, to decide whether newborns of mothers who don’t have hepatitis B should get the vaccine, including the birth dose.
It is also recommended that if parents do not prefer vaccination of their newborn at birth, but feel it is required, they can get the child a first dose after a wait of at least two months.
“We are restoring the balance of informed consent to parents whose newborns face little risk of contracting hepatitis B,” acting director of the CDC and deputy health secretary Jim O’Neill said in a statement.
What was the earlier CDC recommendation regarding Hepatitis B vaccine
Earlier, since 1991, US health officials recommended universal vaccination for infants against hepatitis B, with the first of three shots administered right after birth.
How this may affect infant health
Experts fear that not giving infants vaccine right after birth could expose them to harmful virus. Hepatitis B, a viral infection, can lead to serious liver disease. According to WHO, the virus is most commonly transmitted from mother to child during birth and delivery, in early childhood, as well as through contact with blood or other body fluids among others.
Recommendation ignores science, feel experts
Experts feel the recommendation isn’t science-based and fear surge in preventable infections among kids.
Dr Emily Landon, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Chicago Medicine told Reuters that the CDC’s advisory panel’s job is to help clinicians interpret piles of science and help them make good decisions on how to care for their patients.
“This recommendation is ignoring the science. The fact that the acting director of the CDC would sign on to this just continues to reinforce that they are no longer committed to science-based recommendations for improving health,” Landon said.
“This is going to lead to an increase in preventable infections among children,” Michaela Jackson, program director of prevention policy at the Hepatitis B Foundation, told the Guardian.
There are other implications to the policy change too as Jackson told the outlet that this removes choice by causing barriers to access.
Hepatitis B infections have fallen nearly 90% in the US from 9.6 per 100,000 individuals before vaccination became widespread to about one per 100,000 in 2018.
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