Health
CDC Panel Ends Call for All Newborns to Get Hepatitis B Vaccine
Committee members Dr. Retsef Levi, from left, Dr. Catherine Stein, and Dr. Raymond Pollak during a meeting of the CDC's Advisory Committee On Immunization Practices at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta on Dec 5.
Photographer: Megan Varner/BloombergAn influential panel of US vaccine advisers voted to revoke a longstanding recommendation that all babies receive hepatitis B shots within 24 hours of birth, a move expected to reverse the country’s progress toward eliminating the disease.
The decision is the most consequential action taken by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices since the group was recast under US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier this year.