CDC Approves Major Shift in Hepatitis B Vaccination

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday adopted its advisers' recommendation allowing parents, in consultation with a healthcare provider, to decide whether infants born to hepatitis B-negative mothers should get the vaccine, including the birth dose, ending the long-standing policy that all U.S. newborns receive it.

For those infants not receiving the birth dose, the agency now recommends that the initial dose be administered no earlier than two months of age.

An advisory panel appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., earlier this month, recommended that a birth dose should only be given to newborns whose mothers test positive for hepatitis B or whose status is unknown.

While experts warn the new recommendation could expose more children to the harmful virus, it marks a major policy win for Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, who has made far-reaching changes to the U.S. vaccination policy.