Trump stands by controversial new hepatitis B vaccine recommendations for infants

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump has voiced support for the recent decision by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee to revise the timing of the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns. The panel announced that infants should no longer automatically receive the first dose within 24 hours of birth, reversing decades of longstanding medical guidance.

The announcement, made during a December 5 meeting, sparked immediate concern among public health professionals, who warned that delaying the vaccine could threaten the progress made in reducing new hepatitis B infections among newborns over the past several decades.

In a social media statement, Trump praised the committee's decision, calling the previous immediate vaccination schedule ridiculous and describing the change as a very good decision. He expressed confidence in Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and the CDC to implement the new guidance effectively for the nation's children.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which Kennedy reshaped to include members with more critical views on vaccines, recommended that babies born to mothers who have not tested positive for hepatitis B should wait until at least two months of age for their first dose.

Even some Republican lawmakers have expressed reservations about the updated guidance. Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician from Louisiana and chair of the Senate health committee, urged the CDC acting director to maintain the existing evidence-based vaccination schedule, cautioning that the change could lead to higher infection rates.

As a liver specialist who has treated hepatitis B patients for decades, this alteration is a serious misstep. The hepatitis B vaccine is both safe and highly effective, Cassidy stated online. He highlighted that prior to the birth dose recommendation, roughly 20,000 infants were infected annually, a number now reduced to under 20. Delaying the vaccine could increase cases once again.

Author: Noah Whitman