Several states say they will challenge RFK Jr.’s changes. In vaccination against hepatitis B

Most Democratic-led states say they will continue universally recommending the hepatitis B vaccine and administering it at birth, despite new guidance against it issued last week by a federal vaccine advisory panel chosen by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Robert F. kennedy jr.

Northeast Public Health Collaborative and West Coast Health Alliance, which were formed earlier this year in response to Kennedy’s sweeping reform Serum Politics, along with other blue states, plans to challenge the latest recommendations made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Advisory Committee on Immunization PracticesGold ACIP.

Hepatitis B is a serious, incurable infection that can lead to liver damage and liver cancer. It can be transmitted from mother to child during birth, without vaccination. About 90 percent of infants They become infected with chronic hepatitis C at birth. Among those with chronic infection, 25% will die prematurely from the disease.

Since 1991, ACIP and the American Academy of Pediatrics have recommended that a universal dose of hepatitis B vaccine be administered within 24 hours after birth. The sooner the newborn gets the vaccine, the greater the chance of preventing chronic infection. The birth dose is credited with significantly lowering infection rates in children. However, last week, the newly formed ACIP was formed by Kennedy, which includes Many are vaccine skepticsthat 30-year precedent was overturned. In June, Kennedy A “Clean sweep” of ACIP, removing all 17 of its former experts and replacing them with new members of his choosing.

During a chaotic two-day meeting filled with misinformation, the committee voted to recommend hepatitis B vaccine at birth only for infants born to pregnant people who test positive for the virus, or whose status is unknown. For those whose hepatitis B status was negative, the committee recommended “decision making on an individual basis” — meaning parents should talk to their doctors about vaccination first. If a child does not receive the first dose at birth, the committee suggests delaying the first dose until the child is at least two months old.

Medical experts criticized the decision, saying that testing across the United States is incomplete and does not detect all infections. Half the people who have it They don’t know they are infected.

“The United States has gone through several hepatitis B vaccination recommendations that were all risk-based,” says Michaela Jackson, director of prevention policy at the Hepatitis B Foundation. “We tried to screen mothers, we tried to only vaccinate babies born to mothers with hepatitis B, and they all failed. The universal birth dose has been the absolute success, and the reason why hepatitis B cases in children have dropped 99 percent since we implemented it.”