NEW YORK (AP) — A federal vaccine advisory committee voted Friday to end a longstanding recommendation that all U.S. babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born.

For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses.

But U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee voted to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive or whose infection status is unknown. For other babies, it will be up to the parents and their doctors to decide if a birth dose is appropriate.

For parents who don’t get the birth dose, vaccinations against hepatitis B are advised to start no sooner than 2 months

See Full Page