Washington DC: An advisory panel reshaped by President Donald Trump’s vaccine-sceptic health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has voted to end the decades-old US recommendation for universal hepatitis B vaccination at birth.

The panel, part of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), backed a shift towards “individual-based decision-making” for infants born to mothers who test negative for the virus. The new guidance advises parents and health care providers to weigh vaccine benefits, risks and infection likelihood before deciding on the first dose.

An advisory panel reshaped by President Donald Trump’s vaccine-sceptic health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has voted to overturn the longstanding US recommendation that all newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine at birt

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