Federal Panel Reverses Universal Hepatitis B Vaccine Mandate for Newborns

The advisory committee led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recommends limiting the birth dose to at-risk infants, marking a major shift in U.S. vaccine policy.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

A federal vaccine advisory committee has voted to end the government’s decades-long policy of automatically vaccinating all newborns against hepatitis B, recommending instead that the shot be reserved for babies whose mothers test positive for the virus or whose infection status is unknown.

The decision—announced Friday following a contentious session—represents a historic departure from one of the nation’s most entrenched public health practices. For over 30 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. health agencies have urged hospitals to administer the hepatitis B vaccine within hours of birth, a strategy credited with preventing thousands of infections.

Under the new guidance, the vaccine’s birth dose will no longer be routine. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s advisory panel concluded that infants born to hepatitis B–negative mothers face negligible risk of infection, and that parents, in consultation with their pediatricians, should decide whether the shot is necessary.

For families opting out of the immediate dose, the panel recommended beginning hepatitis B vaccination at no earlier than two months of age.

Several committee members cited limited data on long-term safety and questioned whether earlier studies were large enough to detect potential risks. “Most newborns are not at risk for hepatitis B in the first weeks of life,” one adviser said, adding that universal vaccination may not be justified without clearer evidence of benefit for low-risk infants.

Medical associations and pediatric organizations reacted swiftly, warning that the move could undermine decades of progress. Critics called the concerns over vaccine harm speculative and argued that reducing coverage would inevitably lead to more infections among unvaccinated children.

The acting CDC director, Jim O’Neill, will make the final decision on whether to formally adopt the recommendation as national policy. His ruling will determine whether the United States moves away from universal hepatitis B vaccination at birth for the first time since the program’s inception in the early 1990s.