RFK Jr. Vaccine Committee. Vote on hepatitis B vaccine for children

A vaccine panel selected by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to change a long-standing recommendation that every child be vaccinated against hepatitis B within 24 hours of birth.

It’s not clear whether the committee, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, will significantly delay or eliminate the so-called birth dose of vaccination entirely. The group put forward a vote on the vaccine in September because some members called for a more robust debate first.

But either change could have wide-ranging consequences: Some public health experts say vaccinating fewer newborns against the virus could lead to an increase in chronic infections among children.

Hepatitis B, which can be passed from mother to child during birth, can lead to liver disease and premature death. There is no cure.

“We have a vaccine that is very effective at preventing an incurable disease,” Neil Maniar, a professor of public health at Northeastern University, told CNBC. “We should take full advantage of that.”

The birth dose recommendation was introduced in 1991 and has been credited with reducing infections in children by 99% since then. Manyar called it “a remarkable success story that we risk reversing” if the committee changes the recommendation.

The decisions made by the committee are not legally binding, as it is up to states to authorize fortifications. But ACIP’s recommendations have major implications for whether private insurance plans and government assistance programs cover vaccines at no cost for eligible children.

The committee’s upcoming two-day meeting in Atlanta comes after Kennedy earlier this year abolished the committee and appointed 12 new members, including some well-known vaccine critics. During the meeting in September, some advisers raised questions about whether the benefits of the shot outweigh the potential safety risks.

The vaccine is “an incredibly safe vaccine with minimal risks,” Dr. Sean O’Leary, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Infectious Diseases, said during a press conference on Tuesday.

“I’ve never seen a fever actually associated with the hepatitis B vaccine,” said O’Leary, who practiced eight years as a general pediatrician and worked in a neonatal nursery.

He added that the AAP, which publishes its own vaccine schedule, still recommends the universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine because it “saves lives.”

A new review, published Tuesday, of more than 400 studies spanning four decades found no evidence that delaying the birth dose of the universal hepatitis B vaccine improves safety or effectiveness. The review also found that the birth dose did not cause any serious adverse events or deaths in the short or long term.

A 2024 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the current vaccination schedule helped prevent more than 6 million hepatitis B infections and nearly 1 million hospitalizations due to hepatitis B.

Merck and GSK make hepatitis B vaccines used from birth. None of the picks were big drivers of corporate revenue.

However, during a committee meeting in September, Merck backed away from changing the recommendation.

“Reconsidering newborn hepatitis B vaccination on schedule poses a significant risk to the health of children and the public, potentially leading to a resurgence of preventable infectious diseases,” Dr. Richard Haupt, global chief medical and scientific officer for vaccines and infectious diseases at Merck, said at the time.