The committee voted to keep the birth dose only for infants whose mothers test positive for the virus, replacing the 1991 universal recommendation.

A group of vaccine advisers on Friday scrapped a long-standing recommendation that all U.S. children receive the hepatitis B shot at birth, a major policy win for health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr that disease experts say will reverse decades of public health gains.

The committee voted to keep the birth dose only for infants whose mothers test positive for the virus, replacing the 1991 universal recommendation that has protected all children from hepatitis B infections, which can lead to serious liver disease.

For infants of mothers who test negative, the panel recommended that parents, in consultation with a health care provider, should

See Full Page