Cassidy urges CDC director to refuse hepatitis B recommendations from vaccine panel

Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) called on the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday to reject a recent vaccine advisory panel proposal that would limit hepatitis B vaccinations for newborns to parental choice. The recommendation, approved 8-3 by the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), suggests that hepatitis B shots for infants be postponed until at least two months old and decided individually by parents and healthcare providers.

Cassidy, a physician with decades of experience treating hepatitis B patients, criticized the panels decision. The hepatitis B vaccine is safe and highly effective. The birth dose is a recommendation, not a mandate, he said on social media platform X. He emphasized that prior to the birth dose recommendation, approximately 20,000 infants were infected annually, a number that has now fallen below 20. Cassidy warned that ending the universal recommendation could reverse this progress and increase hepatitis B cases nationwide.

The senator urged acting CDC Director Jim ONeill to reject the ACIPs suggestion and continue the current evidence-based vaccination schedule. Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health Committee, played a key role in confirming Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who reorganized the ACIP and appointed members skeptical of vaccines.

While the CDC director is not obliged to adopt ACIP recommendations, the agency has historically followed the panels guidance. Recent modeling by HepVu predicts that delaying hepatitis B immunization to two months could result in 238 additional preventable infections in children and an extra $21.6 million in healthcare costs.

Author: Zoe Harrison