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Kennedy’s Vaccine Plan Could Cause Surge in Hepatitis B, Study Finds
Confirmed
In Short: No journal article matching this report (Kennedy’s Vaccine Plan Could Cause Surge in Hepatitis B, Study Finds) was found in the research index, and no page published by the researchers turned up in the search.
The research, led by infectious-disease researcher Amir Mohareb of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, used computer simulation to model the hepatitis B status of a single year's cohort of roughly 3.6 million infants born in the United States.
The model projects a 225 percent increase in chronic hepatitis B cases if only about 26 percent of eligible infants are vaccinated at or near birth, which is the researchers' estimate of what might happen under 'shared decision-making'.
According to the study, early-in-life hepatitis B infections, left untreated, lead to a one in four lifetime chance of developing liver cancer.
The hepatitis B vaccine became routinely recommended for all infants in the U.S. in 1991, and the CDC has historically recommended that all infants receive a hepatitis B vaccine dose within 24 hours of birth.
However, in December 2025, the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to drop the longstanding universal recommendation that all newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine dose within 24 hours of birth.
Graham Tse, MD, pediatrician and chief medical officer of MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital in Long Beach, CA, emphasized the importance of the vaccine, stating, “Hepatitis B immunizations have been proven to protect individuals against a serious and significant disease.”
Another study published in JAMA Pediatrics in late April projected hundreds of additional chronic infections annually if the hepatitis B birth dose were delayed or omitted.
Public health experts and researchers have raised alarm over Kennedy Jr.’s proposed changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.
The policy debate concerns whether the hepatitis B vaccine should remain broadly recommended for newborns or be targeted primarily at infants with an identified risk.
The researchers find that delaying the first dose by 2 months yielded an additional $16.4 million in health care spending on new infections.
The hepatitis B vaccine given shortly after birth serves two purposes: it protects an infant who may already face a known exposure risk, and it provides a safety net when that risk has not been identified.
No journal article matching this report (Kennedy’s Vaccine Plan Could Cause Surge in Hepatitis B, Study Finds) was found in the research index, and no page published by the researchers turned up in the search.
What this adds
The study adds to the ongoing debate about the necessity of the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, highlighting the potential risks of delaying or omitting the vaccine.
The researchers have not established a direct causal link between delayed vaccination and increased infections, but the simulation models suggest a significant increase in chronic hepatitis B cases.
The study does not show that a nationwide surge has already occurred, but it projects future increases under certain scenarios.
The research does not address the broader political disputes about immunization recommendations, which have grown amid broader political disputes about vaccine policy.
What's confirmed
- A new study suggests that delaying or foregoing the hepatitis B shot for newborns could increase chronic infections among children.
- However, infants born to mothers who test positive for hepatitis B or whose infection status is unknown should still receive the hepatitis B vaccine and hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) within 12 hours of birth, according to the updated guidelines.
What's still developing
- A news rewrite is not the researchers' measurement.
- The paper "Poor uptake of hepatitis B vaccine in India has several causes, study finds". was published in BMJ in 2013. The authors are C. Travasso. DOI 10.1136/bmj.f3596.
- The simulation modeled how many of 3.6 million children, born the same year in the U.S., would develop hepatitis B under a number of scenarios, including if the former CDC recommendations continued to be followed, if the initial dose (also called a “birth dose”) was delayed, and if a shared decision-making scenario was employed.
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- Source 9 Understanding the controversy requires separating four things: a scientific study, a policy proposal, an ACIP recommendation, and final guidance adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Kennedy’s influence over vaccine policy has grown amid broader political disputes about immunization recommendations, according to STAT.
- A person can carry hepatitis B without obvious symptoms.
- Source 1 The projected increase does not show that a nationwide surge has already occurred.
- Hepatitis B is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus.
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- “We have actual world evidence that vaccinating newborns for hepatitis B prevents hepatitis B infections later in life and the serious complications of that disease,” Tse said.
- Concerns include a rise in preventable infectious diseases such as measles, polio, and hepatitis B.