The Hand selected vaccine panel of the Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The decision means that the current recommendation of the Committee, that all babies receive a hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours after birth, will remain in place until the group meets again on a later date. It is not clear when the panel, called to the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee, or ACIP, will be summoned again to discuss the shot of hepatitis B.
ACIP was considering delaying the first dose of the vaccine up to at least a month of age for babies of women who try negatives for hepatitis B. that would change a recommendation of safe and highly effective birth dose that was introduced in 1991 and is attributed practically eliminating the disease in young children.
Some advisors defended the recommendation of the birth dose during the meeting, saying that delaying it could introduce potential risks for babies, including more infections. But others, particularly those who are known vaccine critics, question the assurance of managing the vaccine to babies as soon.
Dr. Robert Malone, who gained notoriety to promote Covid's wrong information, brought the motion to postpone the vote.
“I think there is enough ambiguity here and sufficient remaining discussion about the security, effectiveness and time that I think a vote today would be premature,” Malone said.
The 12 members supported the motion. Dr. Cody Meissner, professor of pediatrics at the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, said: “I don't think there is any questions that the benefit [of the birth dose] Far exceeds adverse side effects. “
The postponed vote only affects the moment of the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine series. The second would still be given to two months after birth, with a third dose between six and 18 months of age.
Also on Friday, the group voted to recommend hepatitis B tests for all pregnant women. The centers for disease control and prevention, whose most recent director was expelled by the Trump administration, must sign the new and future recommendations of the committee.
The two -day meeting of the panel watched closely in Atlanta after Kennedy destroyed the committee and appointed 12 new members, including some known vaccines critics. ACIP establishes recommendations on who should receive certain shots and what vaccine insurers should cover at no cost, which generates concerns among health experts that Kennedy's remodeling panel could stop access to safe and effective immunizations.
The shot of hepatitis B has been a public health intervention that saves life against the disease, which can cause serious health problems, including liver cancer and failure, and death. Acute hepatitis B infections reported between children and adolescents fell 99% between 1990 and 2019, some studies said. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that the so -called birth dose is essential to reduce chronic hepatitis B later in life.
On Thursday, the advisors and other scientific experts faced the security of the birth dose.
“I think this vaccine is absolutely critical for babies who are treated,” said Resef Levi member, who has expressed his opposition to RNA vaccines. “But this notion that we sat here with very bad evidence and argue that there is no problem [with administering the shot at birth] It is not generating confidence, and is not scientific and is not what the public here should expect from us. ”
But Meissner said that changing the recommendation “will increase the risk of damage based on any benefit evidence.” He said there will be fewer children who obtain the complete series of the hepatitis B vaccine, adding that managing the shot at birth ensures that babies at least receive their first dose.
“As people have asked, why would we choose a month? Why two? There is no evidence that it is safer at a later time,” said Meissner. “It is an extremely safe vaccine, a very pure vaccine. So I think we will create new doubts in the minds of the public that are not justified.”
Before the vote, the American Medical Association urged the panel to maintain the recommendation of the birth dose in place. Other experts outside the panel also expressed concern about changing the guide.
“I have not seen any data that says there is a benefit for the baby to wait a month, but there are a number of potential damage in the waiting incident per month,” said Dr. Adam Langer, an epidemiologist of the CDC who made a presentation on the birth dose of hepatitis B, before the vote.
During his presentation, Langer said: “The sooner the hepatitis B vaccine is provided after birth, the greater its effectiveness to prevent perinatal transmission.” That refers to when a baby becomes infected with his mother during birth.
Merckthat manufactures one of the vaccines used from birth, delayed the proposed recommendation before the official vote of the panel on Thursday.
“The reconsideration of the hepatitis B vaccination of the newborn in the established calendar presents a serious risk to the health of children and the public, which could lead to a resurgence of preventable infectious diseases,” said Dr. Richard Haupt, the head of Merck's global medical and scientific affairs for vaccines and infectious, he said during the meeting.
GSK manufactures another hepatitis B taking from birth.
