RFK Jr. just pushed our public health system off a cliff. pic.twitter.com/6zaep8Jqd9
— Dr. Annie Andrews (@AnnieAndrewsMD) December 5, 2025
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panel voted to end a decades-long recommendation that all newborns get a first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth, placing millions of babies in danger of an an incurable infection, reports Dr.Annie Andrews and NBC News:
The panel, formally known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — whose members Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired in June and replaced with a group that has largely expressed skepticism of vaccines…
Three of the eight members voted against the change.
“We are doing harm by changing this wording and I vote ‘no,’” said Dr. Cody Meissner, the only ACIP member who has previously served on the committee.
Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill — a former investment executive who does not have a medical background, but previously served at the Health and Human Services Department under President George W. Bush — will now choose whether to adopt the panel’s recommendations.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a liver doctor who chairs the Senate’s health committee and cast a key vote in favor of confirming Kennedy as health secretary, said the panel’s new recommendation is “a mistake.”
“Ending the recommendation for newborns makes it more likely the number of cases will begin to increase again. This makes America sicker. Acting CDC Director O’Neill should not sign these new recommendations and instead retain the current, evidence-based approach,” Cassidy said in a statement.
President Donald Trump lauded the panel’s decision in a social media post Friday night, saying the vaccine committee “made a very good decision to END their Hepatitis B Vaccine Recommendation for babies, the vast majority of whom are at NO RISK.”
(Sources: NBC News, Dr.Annie Andrews)