AFV Statement on ACIP’s Decision to Downgrade the Hepatitis B Birth Dose Recommendation

CALL TO ACTION:

With federal vaccine guidance now compromised, states must act decisively. We urge governors, state health departments, and lawmakers to safeguard newborn protections, maintain the universal hepatitis B birth dose recommendation in hospitals and clinics, and defend families’ right to protect their children from preventable disease.

Portland, Maine—Today’s vote by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to downgrade the universal recommendation for the hepatitis B birth dose is a dangerous and unprecedented departure from evidence-based medicine. While ACIP did not eliminate the birth dose recommendation outright, this shift to “shared clinical decision-making” for infants born to hepatitis B–negative mothers will have the same practical effect for many families: delayed vaccination, missed protection, and more newborns left vulnerable to a lifelong virus.

For more than three decades, the universal birth dose recommendation has protected newborns and dramatically reduced infections—from 20,000 infant cases annually to fewer than 20. The science has not changed. The risk has not changed. The vaccine’s safety has not changed. Only ACIP has changed.

A Committee Without Pediatric Expertise Has Redefined Delivery-Room Care

Not one current ACIP member is a practicing pediatrician. Yet today, this committee made a consequential recommendation affecting newborns, mothers, and delivery-room protocols nationwide.

“As a practicing pediatrician who cares for newborns and their families, I cannot overstate how alarming it is that ACIP—now without a single clinician who delivers care to infants—has voted to weaken a long-standing, lifesaving standard,” said Dr. Laura Blaisdell, MD, MPH, FAAP, founding board member of American Families for Vaccines. “It is simply absurd that a panel with no practicing pediatricians is dictating what happens in the delivery room.”

Why Downgrading the Birth Dose Is Dangerous

Shared clinical decision-making is designed for interventions where benefits vary across individuals—not for a universal, decades-proven infant vaccine that saves lives. Downgrading the recommendation:

• Injects confusion into hospitals, delivery rooms, and pediatric practices.

• Encourages delays that will inevitably lead to missed doses.

• Undermines parental confidence by implying new controversy where none exists.

• Risks reversing 34 years of progress in eliminating hepatitis B transmission at birth.

•  Leaves infants vulnerable to infection from caregivers unaware they are infected.

• Signals ACIP’s willingness to dismantle other childhood vaccines next.

As AAP President Dr. Susan Kressly noted today, “This irresponsible and purposely misleading guidance will lead to more hepatitis B infections in infants and children.”

When Federal Guidance Fails, States Must Lead

With ACIP’s expert framework dismantled and scientific rigor replaced by ideological agendas, families can no longer rely on federal recommendations to protect their children.

We call on states to:

• Maintain clear, evidence-based guidance in hospitals and birthing centers.

• Reinforce the universal hepatitis B birth dose in practice and policy.

• Reject misinformation-driven changes that undermine childhood vaccine protections.

• Support pediatricians and public health leaders who continue to follow the science.

• Protect access through state-level program integrity—even as federal guidance falters.

Our Commitment

American Families for Vaccines will continue to defend evidence-based immunization policy and the right of all families to safeguard their children from preventable disease. We will work with clinicians, lawmakers, and community leaders to ensure states maintain strong vaccine protections—no matter what happens at the federal level.