CDC Panel’s Hepatitis B Vaccine Vote Undid Decades of Progress

In a stunning decision that defies all expert advice and scientific evidence, the influential group that shapes US vaccine policy will no longer recommend that all infants receive the hepatitis B vaccination shortly after birth.

It’s a dangerous change that will cause real harm, made by a panel — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) — tasked with protecting public health. Equally alarming as the decision itself was the process by which it was made — a process that demonstrates how this committee, handpicked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could use its authority to undermine access to and confidence in other routine shots.