Today, the U.S. took an unfortunate step backward in its commitment to vaccine policy and protecting children from vaccine preventable diseases. In a historic vote, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) vaccine advisers recommended narrowing the agency's hepatitis B immunization guidance for newborns.
The result, if approved by the CDC's acting director, will be a rollback of a universal recommendation to start hepatitis B immunization at birth, a standard practice in the U.S. for more than 30 years that has been credited with dramatically lowering liver diseases caused by the virus.