On Dec. 16, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gave final approval to changes to America’s childhood immunization schedule. As expected, the CDC formally endorsed the Dec. 5 vaccine recommendations from the CDC’s dysfunctional Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Under the new guidelines the CDC no longer recommends the decades-long policy for newborn hepatitis B vaccinations, and instead encourages parents to wait two months and to then consult their healthcare provider to decide whether the baby will be vaccinated. The CDC is “reviewing,” but did not endorse, an additional advisory panel recommendation to encourage parents to use blood tests of the infant to check levels of protective antibodies to decide if all three doses of the vaccine should be administered. Acting CDC director Jim O’Neill wrote in a press release, “We are restoring the balance of informed consent to parents....”
Critics argue that these decisions are politically based, not on scientific evidence. The hepatitis B immunization program has been one of the most successful vaccine campaigns in U.S. history. The vaccine is safe and there is no evidence to show any advantage in waiting two months. When the program started in 1991, the U.S. suffered 181,000 childhood cases each year.
Within hours of the announced changes, 66 medical organizations were condemning the new CDC guidelines. The state health departments of Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, and Rhode Island, and regional health alliances have all reaffirmed their recommendations to vaccinate newborns for hepatitis B. Major health insurance companies have announced that they will continue to cover all vaccinations that were federally recommended at the beginning of 2025.
Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), issued a statement that: “Pediatricians are already reporting more parents declining to give their child this critical dose. As a pediatrician, this is heartbreaking when we have a vaccine that can prevent so many infections, and it is deeply disappointing to see the continued dismissal of expertise to inform recommendations that have broad implications on the health of America’s children.” Her statement argued that the recommendations are not based on science and “will harm children, their families, and the medical professionals who care for them.”
The day after the AAP statement there appears to be some retaliation. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services repealed its entire budget of $18.4 million going to the AAP for medical research on reducing sudden infant deaths, improving adolescent health, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome, and early identification of autism. The AAP has been one of the major critics of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA agenda.
