Vaccine advisers to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday delayed a vote until Friday that could scrap the U.S. recommendation for the hepatitis B vaccine for all children, a move that would be the health secretary’s most consequential vaccine policy change yet.

Since 1991, the U.S. has had a universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendation for a dose just after birth, which studies show have cut infection rates by 95%. The first dose is followed by two more, at 1 to 2 months and 6 to 18 months.

In an unusual meeting, the committee of advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention heard presentations that questioned the birth dose policy as unsafe. Some participants, however, said skipping it would result in children developing life-long infections that can lead to death. One co

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