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Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., on Friday urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s acting director not to sign off on new guidance that would end routine hepatitis B (HBV) vaccinations for newborns, calling the proposed change “a mistake.”
The comments came after the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted in favor of the recommendation, finding parents should exercise “individual-based decision-making,” in consultation with a doctor, when deciding whether to vaccinate their children for HBV.
For those not receiving the HBV birth dose, the ACIP suggested the initial dose not be administered before the child is two months old.
“As a liver doctor who has treated patients with hepatitis B for decades, this change to the vaccine schedule is a mistake,” Cassidy wrote in an X post on Friday. “The hepatitis B vaccine is safe and effective. The birth dose is a recommendation, NOT a mandate.”
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Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., opposed new guidance slashing recommendations for HBV birth doses. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Cassidy added that before the birth dose was recommended, 20,000 newborns a year were infected with hepatitis B.
Now, he noted, it’s fewer than 20.
“Ending the recommendation for newborns makes it more likely the number of cases will begin to increase again,” Cassidy wrote. “This makes America sicker. Acting CDC Director O’Neill should not sign these new recommendations and instead retain the current, evidence-based approach.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said the change to the vaccine schedule “is a mistake.” (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
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Cassidy, a physician, targeted Aaron Siri on Thursday, noting the…
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