The committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may advise the agency to change the current recommendation that all infants receive a dose of the hepatitis B vaccine shortly after birth, according to a document released on Sept. 18.
Advisers will vote at the end of a meeting on Sept. 18 on whether the childhood immunization schedule should be updated to state that for children born to mothers who test negative for the illness, the vaccine “is not given until the child is at least one month old,” the document shows.
It was known that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices would vote on hepatitis B vaccination, but the language of the vote had not been disclosed.
Hepatitis B is a liver disease for which there is no cure, although drugs can help manage infections. Hepatitis B can spread in multiple ways, including from pregnant women to their babies.
The CDC currently recommends that infants with normal birth weight receive the first dose of the three-shot hepatitis B vaccine regimen within 24 hours of birth.
That recommendation was implemented in 1991 because of “the difficulty of vaccinating high-risk adults,” according to the CDC. The rate of reported hepatitis B among individuals aged no older than 19 has since dropped from three cases per 100,000 to less than 0.1 cases per 100,000.
Some doctors have recently voiced concerns about the current hepatitis B vaccine schedule, including Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary.
“I personally don’t believe that the evidence is solid to say the hep B shot needs to be given at birth,” Makary said in a recent interview on Fox News.
The doctors say that infants born to women who tested negative during pregnancy do not need the vaccine until later in childhood.
Most European countries do not recommend hepatitis B vaccination at birth unless the mother has hepatitis B. Some don’t recommend it at all for children.
Other experts favor keeping the current schedule in place.
“In the old adage, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it,'” Dr. William Schaffner, a former ACIP member who has for decades been a liaison to the panel, told The Epoch Times in a recent interview. “What’s wrong with the current system? It’s working. It’s working brilliantly.”
Susan Monarez, the CDC’s last permanent director, and Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC’s chief medical officer before she resigned following Monarez’s termination, said during an appearance on Capitol Hill on Wednesday that they had not seen data that supported changing the schedule.
“I would want them to keep it at birth,” Houry said. “I think there’s a lot of moms that don’t know they have hepatitis that can then transmit it to their baby. Even if a mom is hepatitis-B negative, we don’t know what the home situation is.”
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a private meeting in August that the childhood vaccine schedule would be changing in September, Monarez said.
“Any potential changes to the childhood vaccine schedule will be based on the latest available science and only after the ACIP recommends it and the Acting CDC Director reviews and approves those recommendations,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said.
In a presentation set to be delivered to ACIP before members vote, a CDC official said that studies showed a birth dose conferred antibodies to many infants and prevented perinatal transmission while resulting in few adverse events.
ACIP is going to vote on whether all pregnant women should be tested for hepatitis B. They will then vote on whether to state that if a mother tests negative, the first dose is not administered until the child is at least 1 month old.
“Infants may receive a dose of hepatitis B vaccine before one month according to individual based decision-making,” which is known as shared clinical decision-making, according to the voting language.
Advisers will also vote on whether the schedule should be updated to state that the measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) vaccines are not recommended for children under the age of 4. The schedule, if the change is approved, would state that the population should receive the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, and a varicella shot, separately. Advisers had expressed concern about the elevated risk of febrile seizures in younger children following MMRV vaccination.