The U.S. Centers for Disease Control’ (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 8–3 on Friday to end the universal recommendation that all newborns receive a Hepatitis B vaccine at birth.
The nationwide policy—first implemented in 1991—will now be replaced with a more targeted approach.
Under the revised guidance, the birth dose will be administered only to infants whose mothers test positive for Hepatitis B or whose infection status is unknown. For all other babies, ACIP endorsed parent-directed decision-making and recommended delaying the vaccine until at least two months of age.
Committee members cited evidence showing that newborns without maternal exposure face an extremely low risk of Hepatitis B infection, and that declines in U.S. transmission rates since the early 1990s resulted primarily from safer blood screening and improved medical protocols rather than universal infant jabs.
While three dissenting members warned the rollback could introduce risk, the majority maintained that the blanket recommendation is no longer supported by current data.
During deliberations, members also reviewed CDC VAERS reports indicating tens of thousands of adverse events associated with Hepatitis B shots in infants and children since 1990, including 1,494 reported deaths and more than 6,400 hospitalisations. The volume of reports fuelled calls for a more selective, evidence-aligned strategy.
Pending final sign-off from the CDC director, the decision marks the first major reversal of a childhood vaccine recommendation in decades and is being hailed by medical-freedom advocates as a milestone for individualised healthcare choice.
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