Move from RFK Jr’s advisers mirrors Trump team’s regressive approach to longstanding vaccine guidance
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s vaccine advisers voted on Friday morning to limit hepatitis vaccines in a major move signaling the Trump administration’s regressive approach to vaccines that have been given safely and effectively for decades.
The panel of advisers to US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr voted to remove the broad recommendation that all newborns in the US receive a hepatitis B vaccine.
For infants of mothers who test negative for hepatitis, the committee voted eight to 11 to recommend that parents, in consultation with a healthcare provider, should decide when or if their child should receive the vaccine series. It advised parents who elect to delay the vaccination to offer the first dose no sooner than two months of age.
The move will add confusion to routine vaccinations and create access issues, especially for lower-income families, experts said. While the advisers make non-binding recommendations, they frequently form the basis of official policy, and they directly affect the way private and federal insurance providers cover the vaccines.
