CDC’s ACIP Recommends Individualized Decision-Making for Hep B Vaccinations

For women who test negative for the hepatitis B virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) now recommends individualized vaccine decision-making by parents, along with the advice of their health care providers, including for the routinely administered birth dose after the group voted to change its previous recommendation. Formal advice includes parents evaluating the vaccine’s risks/benefits and consulting with their health care provider to decide if their child should begin the hepatitis B vaccine series. ACIP’s recommendation was adopted by the CDC on December 16, becoming part of the CDC’s child immunization schedule. This represents a large shift in the previous recommendation has come with broad criticism from the health care community, including from the American Academy of Pediatrics and an AMA trustee. Several state and state health agencies, including the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and the West Coast Health Alliance, a public health consortium made up of California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii, have also issued statements opposing ACIP’s new recommendation.