Key US panel to vote on changing infant hepatitis B vaccine recommendation

"After a delay and an unusually contentious meeting, a federal vaccine advisory panel was expected to vote on Friday whether to change the longstanding recommendation that all newborns be immunized against hepatitis B. The first day of the meeting of the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) on Thursday was marked by heated debate over restricting access to the hepatitis B vaccine for infants and a decision to defer the vote by a day to give members more time to review the wording."

"The shot is currently recommended for all infants within 24 hours of birth to prevent infection of hepatitis B, which can cause serious liver damage. It has been given to 1.4 billion people for more than three decades. The meeting in Atlanta offered no new evidence of the harms caused by the vaccine. The advisory panel, hand-picked by Donald Trump's controversial health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, includes longtime anti-vaccine advocates."

"In one pointed exchange on Thursday, Joseph Hibbeln, an ACIP member and psychiatrist and neuroscientist, asked: Is there any specific evidence of harm of giving this vaccination before 30 days? Or is this speculation? There is limited evidence about the long-term risk, said Mark Blaxill, an author who has argued that vaccines cause autism and other conditions, and who was recently named senior adviser at the CDC. So this was speculation and limited evidence, Hibbeln replied. OK, got it."

An ACIP meeting was delayed and became unusually contentious as members debated whether to change the longstanding recommendation that all newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine. The panel twice postponed a final vote and deferred it again to allow more time to review wording. The hepatitis B vaccine is recommended within 24 hours of birth to prevent infection that can cause serious liver damage and has been administered to 1.4 billion people over more than three decades. The Atlanta meeting produced no new evidence of vaccine harms. The advisory panel includes longtime anti-vaccine advocates appointed by Robert F Kennedy Jr, and experts warn that altering the schedule could have significant consequences for childhood health in the US.

Read at www.theguardian.com