CDC panel votes to drop guidance for universal newborn hepatitis B vaccination

The vaccine safety panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to drop federal guidance that all children be vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth, breaking with more than three decades of precedent and providing a significant win to vaccine skeptics.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the CDC on vaccine safety decisions, voted on Friday to change the recommendation for infants born to mothers who test negative for hepatitis B. Instead of vaccinating all children within the first 24 hours of life, the committee recommended that infants born to mothers with a confirmed negative test do not need to be vaccinated until two months of age...