What we know about hepatitis B as RFK Jr. moves to delay shots for kids

Do newborns need the hepatitis B vaccine to B healthy?

That’s slated to be deliberated Thursday at a meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The influential vaccine advisory panel is expected to vote to recommend delaying a shot typically given at birth to age 4, NPR reported.

“There is going to likely be a discussion about hepatitis B vaccine, very specifically trying to dislodge the birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine and to push it later in life,” Demetre Daskalakis, the former director for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told the outlet.

“Apparently this is a priority of the Secretary’s.”

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long questioned the safety of vaccines, including those for hepatitis B. He ousted all 17 ACIP members in June and appointed new ones ahead of this week’s key meeting, which will also review recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines.

Here’s a look at hepatitis B, a viral infection that’s the world’s leading cause of liver cancer, and the current vaccination recommendations.

Over 296 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B, making it the most common liver infection in the world.

In the US, as many as 2.4 million Americans may have a chronic case.

Acute hepatitis B becomes chronic when the patient’s immune system fails to clear the virus within six months of infection.

There were 17,650 new reports of chronic hepatitis B and 1,769 hepatitis B-related deaths in 2023, according to the CDC.

About 2,200 acute infections were logged that year, though the agency estimated that number to be closer to 14,400.

Many people with hepatitis B don’t know they are infected and don’t get tested.

Hepatitis B rates in the US have declined significantly since 1991, when the universal infant vaccination program was launched.

The virus is primarily spread through contact with infected blood or other body fluids, typically via sex, needle-sharing and childbirth when the mother is infected.

US pregnant women are typically screened for hepatitis B in the first trimester.

If the mother is found to have it, she may be given antiviral medication in the third trimester, and her baby would receive a hepatitis B vaccine and hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) within 12 hours of birth.

There is no cure for the disease. About 95% of adults will clear the virus on their own within about six months.

Those who don’t will develop chronic hepatitis B, which can lead to liver scarring, failure and cancer if left untreated.

Children face a greater risk of long-term sickness. About 90% of infants who contract the virus at birth will become chronically ill.

In 1991, the ACIP recommended universal vaccination for all infants.

The first dose is given within 24 hours of birth. The second is administered at 1 to 2 months of age, and the third between 6 and 18 months. The vaccine protects about 98% of healthy infants, the CDC said.

Side effects, which are usually mild and short-lived, may include pain at the injection site, soreness, redness, headache and fatigue.

The American Academy of Pediatrics said in June that the US is on track to eliminate perinatal hepatitis B, but ditching the birth dose would “jeopardize this progress.”