CDC ends recommendation for all US newborns to receive hepatitis B vaccine

A protest outside the CDC headquarters in Atlanta earlier this month against the decision to change the recommendations for the hep B vaccine. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday ended a long-standing recommendation that all US newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine.

The agency’s move follows a vote from health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine advisory panel that a birth dose should only be given to newborns whose mothers test positive for hepatitis B or whose status is unknown.