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

Change marks an abrupt end to 30 years of established medical guidance and follows vote earlier this month

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.