The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel on Friday voted to not recommend the Hepatitis B vaccine for everyone at birth, alarming many in the medical community. CBS News medical contributor Dr. Celine Gounder explains what to know about the decision.

Washington

The United States is now one of the few advanced nations that does not recommend the hepatitis B vaccine for all infants at birth, following a recent decision by a CDC advisory committee. Medical experts, including Dr. Selene Gounder, have expressed concern, noting that hepatitis B can be transmitted to infants from mothers or other household members, and that previous risk-based approaches missed many cases.

The change is attributed to a shift toward more individualistic healthcare decisions in the US, which lacks universal healthcare coverage. Parents can still request the vaccine for their newborns, but it is no longer automatically administered and will depend on discussions with healthcare providers and hospital policies.

CDC's decision on Hepatitis B vaccine at birth could impact infants

This morning's Health Watch, the U.S. is now one of the only advanced countries in the world not to recommend the hepatitis B vaccine for everybody at birth. Friday's decision came from a new CDC advisory committee, and many in the medical community are in a word, alarmed. CBS News medical contributor Dr. Selene Gounder is editor at large for public health at KFF Health News, and joins us now to sort it out. Let's say this part again, Selene, the U.S. is now one of the only advanced countries in the world. What does this mean? What does this say and why? I think there's this misconception that hepatitis B infection is only through sexual transmission and injection drug use. And let's get real. This is not how babies are getting hepatitis B. They're getting hepatitis B from their moms or, and this is very important, other caregivers and members of the household. And so having a policy that is based on testing of the mother, you're going to miss a whole bunch of infections. We know from our experience back in the 1980s, when we had a risk-based approach to vaccination, you were missing up to two thirds of infected mothers, not to mention other household caregivers, grandparents for example, who can also infect the baby. And this is because hepatitis B is far more infectious than HIV or hepatitis C and can survive on household services up to a week. So that's why you're saying it's important to get them vaccinated at birth. Right away. And this does make a huge difference. It makes a huge difference because the infant's immune system is weak at that point. You don't have immunity to these things. And if the infant is exposed to hepatitis B, they have a 90% probability of going on to chronic hepatitis, which means by their 30s and 40s, they might be facing conditions like cirrhosis, liver failure, liver cancer, and that is entirely preventable. So why would the U.S. buck this trend then? How do you explain that? Well, I think coming out of COVID in particular, there's really been this shift to much more individualistic approaches to health. The problem with that is one, we're a country where we don't have the same kinds of healthcare systems that they do in Europe. That was a lot of what was being discussed on Friday. They were comparing U.S. vaccination policies to those of Denmark, but that is a false comparison because these are countries where everybody gets healthcare. We are a country in which healthcare is very inaccessible, unaffordable. I mean, look at what's happening with the Luigi Mangione case right now, right? People are angry about our healthcare system being so expensive and inaccessible. And these kinds of policies were meant to bridge those gaps that not having a universal healthcare system would provide you. But if they want to, parents can still get their children vaccinated at birth. It's through shared decision-making. So it's also going to depend on the doctor and the hospital's policies, but you can certainly ask. It may not be automatic though. Wow. So you got a lot for parents to think about who are waiting for their babies to arrive. Thank you.

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