CDC Panel Recommends Ending Universal Hepatitis B Vaccine for Newborns

A key advisory committee to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has voted to reverse a long-standing vaccination policy. The panel now recommends ending the universal immunization of newborns against hepatitis B. The committee advises the CDC on vaccine schedules. Its new recommendation would reserve the hepatitis B vaccine at birth only for infants born to mothers with a known infection or unknown status. This overturns a decades-old policy of giving the first dose to all newborns within 24 hours of birth. Hepatitis B is a virus that attacks the liver. It can cause lifelong infection and serious health problems. The original universal policy aimed to protect infants from mothers whose infection status was missed during pregnancy. The CDC must still review and approve the committee's recommendation before it becomes official guidance for doctors.