Kerfuffle continues over pending halt of hep B vaccine for babies

Will Jim O’Neill move to scrap vaccines against hepatitis B for newborn infants? The panel pressing him to do so, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), made the recommendation Dec. 5. 

All O’Neill, the acting CDC director, needs to do now is wave his pen and the scrapping of the practice—a given since 1991—will be done.

Reaction to the ACIP proposal has been strong and mostly—but not entirely—negative. 

Among the influential voices rising above cacophony are five in favor of the change, or at least of the reconsideration, and five firmly opposing it. 

AGAINST: 

“Before the birth dose was recommended, 20,000 newborns a year were infected with hepatitis B. Now, it’s fewer than 20. Ending the recommendation for newborns makes it more likely the number of cases will begin to increase again. This makes America sicker. Acting CDC Director O’Neill should not sign these new recommendations and instead retain the current, evidence-based approach.”—Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD  

“[President Trump’s claim that hepatitis B is mostly transmitted sexually or via dirty needles] is simply not true. … I think in time, ACIP is going to be fully degraded as a decisionmaking body, and it’s going to be more symbolic. There will be certain states that adhere to it, but it will be more symbolic.”—Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD

“We will see hepatitis B infections come back. The vaccine is so effective, it does not make sense in my mind to change the immunization schedule.”—Pediatric epidemiologist and ACIP member Cody Meissner, MD

“We do not anticipate changing our policy. If anything, we are more concerned about how to communicate and clarify the noise from the facts. … No vaccine is put into a child without the consent of the parent. We are going to still encourage providers to have that conversation at birth.”—Infectious disease specialist and state DPH commissioner Manisha Juthani, MD

“Abraham Lincoln once said: ‘We must plan for the future because people who stay in the present will remain in the past.’ We have a responsibility to press for policies that strengthen, rather than erode, the preventive foundations that American households, health systems and life sciences investors rely on.”—Strategic advisor to early-stage life sciences companies Marie Mazur

NOT AGAINST: 

“[T]he CDC Vaccine Committee made a very good decision to END their Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommendation for babies, the vast majority of whom are at NO RISK of Hepatitis B, a disease that is mostly transmitted sexually, or through dirty needles. … I am fully confident Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and the CDC, will get this done, quickly and correctly, for our Nation’s Children. … MAHA!”—President Donald Trump 

“Thank you, Mr. President. We’re on it.”—HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

“When a parent wants to wait until the child is 8, 10 or 12 years of age, we have to listen to those parents and be honest with them, [informing them] that there is no scientific evidence that there’s a benefit of doing it on the first day of life versus at age 10 or 12.”—FDA Commissioner Marty Makary

“This has been a long time coming for parents who have been screaming from the rooftops. We need to stop treating parents like they’re so irresponsible … [as if] parents don’t know what’s best for their healthy newborns.”—MAHA PAC media strategist Caitlin Sinclair 

“RFK Jr. and President Trump have both identified the vaccination schedule as something they would like looked at, and this is certainly an example of that. … They’re taking a hard look at the current recommended vaccines and why we’re doing it when we’re doing it.”—USA Today consumer health reporter Ken Alltucker