Hepatitis B is a highly infectious, incurable virus that attacks the liver and can cause chronic infection, liver damage, and liver cancer. The hepatitis B vaccine is safe and billions of doses have been administered worldwide with no serious, long-term safety concerns. Since the universal newborn vaccination was adopted in 1991, hepatitis B infections in U.S. children and adolescents have fallen by 99%. 

A federal vaccine advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) selected by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) - is scheduled to discuss and vote on changing the CDC’s recommendations around the hepatitis B vaccine, potentially limiting children’s access. 

The vote comes after Secretary Kennedy fired all 17 members of the panel in June and replaced them with members more aligned with his own, skeptical views of vaccines. Most recently, the panel discussed changing the current recommendations for administering the hepatitis B vaccine to newborns. Today, they will vote on whether or not newborns should continue to receive the hepatitis B vaccine immediately after birth, regardless of the mother’s infection status.

ACIP’s recommendations are incredibly influential. The Vaccines for Children Program, which provides free vaccines for half of the U.S.’s children, covers the vaccines ACIP recommends and the CDC subsequently approves. Additionally, most private insurers must cover the vaccines ACIP endorses to the CDC, and many state vaccination policies are directly linked to its guidelines.

Newborn vaccination is the cornerstone of U.S. hepatitis B prevention. For 34 years, the CDC has recommended that all newborns get a first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth. If the panel’s recommendation were to rollback newborn vaccinations, it would:

• Increase unprotected newborns, leading to more than 1,000 babies becoming infected each year
• Set back decades of progress eliminating hepatitis B
• Cause increased rates of liver disease, liver damage, liver cancer, and unnecessary deaths
• Undermine science-based public health decision-making

For over 30 years, the birth dose has reduced infections in children under 19 by 99%, preventing an estimated 500,000 childhood infections and more than 90,000 related deaths.

Consult with a medical professional

Expectant parents with questions should talk to their doctor about the vaccine. To protect as many people as possible, infants get the hepatitis B vaccine immediately, before leaving the hospital, because the virus can be passed from an infected mother to the baby during birth and the vaccine is highly effective at preventing infection. 

Even if a pregnant person has tested negative for hepatitis B, it is still critical to give the baby the birth dose because the virus can easily spread from surface contact. There is the possibility of receiving a false negative test result when screened, and some pregnant people become infected later in pregnancy - after being tested. Further, many adults may be unaware that they have the virus and transmit it to an infant after birth. Babies who receive the full vaccine series starting from birth have their chance of liver cancer reduced by 84%. If fewer people get vaccinated, hepatitis B will circulate at higher rates in American communities and the risk of contracting the virus will rise for everyone who does not receive the vaccine.

In Service,

The Office of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez