Congressman Johnson Leads Letter To CDC, Advisory Panel Urging Hepatitis B Vaccine Schedule For Newborns Remain In Place To Save Lives

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04), Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) and Congresswoman Kim Schrier MD (WA-08) sent a letter to Centers for Diseases Control & Prevention (CDC) Acting Director James O'Neill and the advisory panel it oversees urging them to maintain the existing recommendations in support of the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. The advisory panel is scheduled to discuss and vote on the hepatitis B birth dose recommendation during its two-day meeting starting Dec. 4, potentially limiting children's access to the life-saving vaccine. 

In the letter, the members said: “[we] are very concerned that the Committee may vote to remove this longstanding recommendation this month as part of its larger focus on altering childhood vaccinations. There is no data to support delaying the first immunization to one-month, four years, or 12 years of age. Since the implementation of the birth dose recommendation in 1991, there has been an astonishing 99% reduction in childhood hepatitis B infections. In the last 30 years, this vaccine schedule is estimated to have saved over 90,000 lives, prevented 6 million infections, and nearly 1 million hospitalizations. Further, a model by the Center for Disease Analysis Foundation found that removing the universal birth dose in favor of later vaccination initiation would result in 99,000 new hepatitis B infections that could have been prevented. To protect children from hepatitis B, we strongly urge you to maintain the existing ACIP recommendation in support of the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.”

To read the full letter, click HERE. 

 

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