Kennedy's vaccine advisory committee delays vote on hepatitis B shots
for newborns
[December 05, 2025]
By MIKE STOBBE
A federal vaccine advisory committee on Thursday voted to delay a
decision on whether newborns should still get the hepatitis B vaccine on
the day they're born.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, meeting in Atlanta,
voted to delay the decision until Friday after committee members voiced
confusion about voting language — and some voiced concern about taking
such a step.
For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated
against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely
considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of
illnesses.
But U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee is
considering whether to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose
mothers test positive, which would mark a return to a public health
strategy that was abandoned more than three decades ago. For other
babies, it will be up to the parents and their doctors to decide if a
birth dose is appropriate.
Committee member Vicky Pebsworth said a work group was tasked in
September with evaluating whether a birth dose is necessary when mothers
tested negative for hepatitis B.
“We need to address stakeholder and parent dissatisfaction" with the
current recommendation, she said.
The committee makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention on how already approved vaccines should
be used. CDC directors almost always adopted the committee’s
recommendations, which were widely heeded by doctors and guide
vaccination programs. But the agency currently has no director, leaving
acting director Jim O'Neill to decide.
Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist before he became the nation’s
top health official, fired the entire 17-member panel earlier this year
and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices.
The panel has made several decisions that angered major medical groups.
At a June meeting, it recommended that a preservative called thimerosal
be removed from doses of flu vaccine even though some members
acknowledged there was no proof it was causing harm.
In September, it recommended new restrictions on a combination shot that
protects against chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella. The panel also
took the unprecedented step of not recommending COVID-19 vaccinations,
even for high-risk populations such as seniors, and instead making it a
matter of personal choice.
Several doctors groups said the changes were not based on good evidence,
and advised doctors and patients to follow guidance that was previously
in place.
They renewed some of that criticism. Dr. Jason M. Goldman, president of
the American College of Physicians, commented during the meeting,
calling it “political theater” and adding that “you are basing this on
concerns of individuals who don't want the vaccine.”
Some committee members argued that safety studies in the past were
limited and it’s possible that larger additional studies could uncover a
problem with the birth dose. But two other committee members — Dr.
Joseph Hibbeln and Dr. Cody Meissner — saw no documented evidence of
harm from the birth doses and wondered whether the concern behind the
discussion is just, as Hibbeln said, “speculation.”
Hepatitis B is a serious liver infection that, for most people, lasts
less than six months. But for some, especially infants and children, it
can become a long-lasting problem that can lead to liver failure, liver
cancer and scarring called cirrhosis.
[to top of second column]
|
Committee member Vicky Pebsworth, speaks during a meeting of the
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the CDC, Sept. 18,
2025, in Chamblee, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
In adults, the virus is spread through sex or through sharing needles
during injection drug use.
But it can also be passed from an infected mother to a baby. As many as
90% of infants who contract hepatitis B go on to have chronic
infections, meaning their immune systems don’t completely clear the
virus.
In 1991, the committee recommended an initial dose of hepatitis B
vaccine at birth. Over about 30 years, cases among children fell from
about 18,000 per year to about 2,200.
But members of Kennedy's committee have voiced discomfort with
vaccinating all newborns.
Cynthia Nevison, an autism and environmental researcher, presented at
the meeting. Nevison has written opinion pieces published by Children’s
Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy organization Kennedy previously
led. She also co-authored a 2021 article in the Journal of Autism and
Developmental Disorders that the publication retracted after concerns
were raised about the paper’s methodology and about nondisclosed ties
between the authors and anti-vaccine groups.
Another presenter was Mark Blaxill, a co-author of the retracted paper,
who spoke about vaccine safety.
In the past, committee meetings have relied on presentations by the CDC
scientists involved in tracking vaccine-preventable diseases and
assessing vaccine safety. The agenda for this meeting listed no CDC
scientists, but rather featured a prolonged public airing of
anti-vaccine theories that most scientists have deemed as discredited.
Kennedy is a lawyer by training. Aaron Siri, a lawyer who worked with
Kennedy on vaccine litigation, is listed as a presenter on Friday on the
topic of the immunization schedule for U.S. children.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who is a doctor, on
Thursday posted on social media; “The ACIP is totally discredited. They
are not protecting children.”
The current guidance advises a dose within 24 hours of birth for all
medically stable infants who weigh at least 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms),
plus follow-up shots to be given at about 1 month and 6 months. The
committee is expected to vote on language that says when a family
decides not to get a birth dose, then the vaccination series should
begin when the child is 2 months old.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from
the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education
and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for
all content.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
