A CDC vaccine advisory panel’s decision to stop recommending universal hepatitis B vaccination for newborns has sparked a split between federal advisors and the medical societies that guide clinical care.
After the recently revamped Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to weaken its hepatitis B vaccine birth-dose recommendations, leaders of organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and multiple state and local health departments indicated that they do not plan to follow the revised guidance ….
“If the political appointees running our health agencies and communities are going to ignore data and evidence, we must absolutely ignore them going forward,” said Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, which hosts the Vaccine Integrity Project.
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“In the past, we’ve had a consistent message,” said Ronald G. Nahass, MD, MHCM, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “Because the ACIP is not following the evidence, not following the science, and not collaborating, we now have an effort across the country to offset that confusion and chaos.”
