ACIP Strips Routine Day-of-Birth Vaccine from Childhood Schedule, Citing “Extremely Low” Risk to U.S. Infants and Mounting Parental Concerns

December 5, 2025 | Atlanta, GA – In a stunning reversal of three decades of federal policy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 12–3 today to remove the universal recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination of healthy newborns within 24 hours of birth.

The historic decision ends the controversial practice—implemented in 1991—that required every American infant, regardless of maternal infection status or lifestyle risk factors, to receive the first of three Hep B shots before leaving the hospital. Effective immediately upon publication in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report next week, the updated schedule will now recommend the vaccine only for infants born to hepatitis B-positive mothers or those with other documented risk factors.

“This is a triumph of science over dogma,” said Dr. Robert Malone, the mRNA technology pioneer who testified before the panel yesterday. “Forcing a vaccine against a blood-borne and sexually transmitted disease on every day-old baby—when maternal screening already identifies 99.9 % of true risks—was never justified by the data.”

The vote followed two days of intense public comment and closed-door deliberation. Committee members cited multiple lines of evidence:

- U.S. perinatal hepatitis B transmission has fallen below 0.02 % since universal maternal screening began in the 1990.
- Fewer than 25 cases of infant-acquired hepatitis B have been documented nationwide in the past decade.
- Large European nations such as the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands never adopted universal newborn vaccination yet maintain hepatitis B rates equal to or lower than the United States.
- Post-marketing surveillance has revealed rare but serious adverse events, including reports of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) temporally associated with the day-of-birth dose.

Dr. Cody Meissner, professor of pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine and one of the panel’s longest-serving members, delivered the decisive statement before casting his “yes” vote: “The risk-benefit ratio for universal birth-dose Hep B in 2025 America is no longer favorable. We must respect informed parental choice when the actual risk to a healthy infant is essentially zero.”

The three dissenting votes came from liaison representatives of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and one CDC career official, who argued that removing the universal recommendation could “erode public confidence” in the entire childhood schedule.

Reaction was swift and polarized.

Physicians for Informed Consent and Children’s Health Defense hailed the decision as “the beginning of the end for over-vaccination of American children.” Republican lawmakers, led by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), issued a joint statement calling it “proof that government health agencies can still be held accountable when parents and independent scientists speak out.”

In contrast, the AAP immediately announced it will continue recommending the birth dose “until further safety and efficacy data are available,” while Planned Parenthood and several Democratic governors vowed to keep hospital mandates in place through state law.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Trump, who has repeatedly criticized “one-size-fits-all newborn vaccination,” was briefed on the vote and “applauds the ACIP for finally listening to mothers across the country.”

The hepatitis B vaccine remains fully recommended at 2–6 months of age for all infants under the new schedule, with catch-up vaccination urged through adolescence. Manufacturers Merck and GSK, which split roughly $800 million annually in U.S. pediatric Hep B sales, saw shares drop 5 % and 7 % respectively in after-hours trading.

For millions of new parents, the change means hospitals can no longer administer the shot without explicit informed consent—a policy already in place in all 50 states for vitamin K injections and erythromycin eye ointment, but routinely ignored for the Hep B vaccine until today.

As one Ohio mother who refused the birth dose for her twins last year told reporters outside CDC headquarters, “Finally, my baby gets to come into the world without being treated like a disease vector from minute one. This is what medical freedom looks like.”