Illinois health officials asserted the state's hepatitis B vaccination guidance remains unchanged after a federal vaccine advisory committee voted to end the longstanding recommendation that all U.S. babies get the vaccine on the day they’re born.

Dr. Sameer Vohra, the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said he's "deeply concerned" by the shift away from universal newborn vaccination, and there hasn't been any new evidence to support the change.

"For decades, the best available science has shown that administering the hepatitis B vaccine at birth is safe, effective, and critical in preventing chronic liver disease and liver cancer later in life..." he shared in a statement, in part.

While the shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing t

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