By: Mia Ji

24 December 2025

On December 5, 2025, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) determined in an 8-3 vote to remove the hepatitis B vaccination at birth and recommend individual-based decisions. Since this new measure was put in use last week, medical professionals and public health advocates raised their protests: this radical change could challenge the validity of the vaccination, despite having been proven effective and life-saving.

The recent surge in antivaccination belief will harm future populations, the children shaped by these current prevalent beliefs. These choices have the most relevance to their lives, not ours, and I look to emphasize the importance of making good, well-thought-out decisions.

Since 1991, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alongside the ACIP, have supported administering the hepatitis B vaccine for all infants. Updates to this regulation in 2005 and 2018 ensured that the mandatory first dose is given within 24 hours after birth.

The sheer numbers reflect reality. Over this period, infant infections have decreased by 95%, preventing one million hospitalizations and 90,000 deaths. Pediatricians have determined that out of the thousands of babies they give the vaccine to, none experience noticeable symptoms or are at a safety risk.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr is leading an anti-vaccine crusade, particularly concerning children. He appointed supporters of his cause to the ACIP, the same members who would go on to follow through with the hepatitis B vaccination vote. Ironically, few of these anti-vaccine supporters have experience in this scientific field of research, yet they continue to make these arguments:

1. Public health requires informed consent and full transparency, and widespread governmental standards negatively influence trust.

2. Since the US has a low hepatitis B infection rate, vaccinating newborns is unnecessary.

As Kennedy articulates, public perception is massively influential in the scope of medical decisions. While he believes the federal vaccination requirements harmed informed individual-based thought, removing the requirement creates more serious, underlying issues that will lead to long-term repercussions if we cannot recognize and address them today.

Most notably, the public can be led to believe the removal of the mandatory vaccination reflects its inefficacy. Not only is the hepatitis B vaccination effective, but reinforcing it is a matter of basic protection from otherwise fatal outcomes. Framing the vaccine as a choice hides its necessity and conceals the life-or-death effects when ignored.

For the uninformed, hepatitis B is a viral sexually transmitted infection, contracted through contact with infected blood or bodily fluids. During birth, it is most frequently transmitted from an infected mother to the child. Recent measures have not changed the fact that if the mother has tested positive for the disease, the newborn must be appropriately vaccinated. However, some mothers test negative early on in pregnancy and become infected later, leaving the baby completely unprotected. Hepatitis B can also be transmitted after birth and before the new recommendation for the first dose at two months.

Chronic hepatitis B, which infants likely contract due to their undeveloped immune system, can lead to cirrhosis and liver failure. It is incurable, and treatment only mitigates the risks.

The anti-vaccine perspective on herd immunity in the US is equally misleading. In the past, the mandatory newborn hepatitis B vaccination has actively maintained widespread immunity towards the disease. Protection without reinforcements cannot last forever.

Hepatitis B causes harm even when the country as a whole does not experience large outbreaks. Unprotected infants at birth and underprivileged people, lacking appropriate healthcare, suffer throughout their entire lives from the action or inaction of the generations before them.

In countries beyond the United States, the Trump administration is taking extreme liberties with its federal power. Guinea-Bissau’s people endure more significant adversity against hepatitis B in their infant population, an issue that grows more pronounced when babies do not have access to the vaccine at birth.

The Trump administration expressed its intentions to fund a 1.6 million dollar study on vaccination practices, using Guinea-Bissau’s newborn practices. Though a randomized controlled trial has demonstrated the superior outcomes with the birth dose, the administration still feels it necessary to, essentially, experiment on these newborns, who are highly exposed to the disease, by picking when they receive the vaccination and making observations based on the results.

This unethical approach deserves an article dedicated to it alone, but for now, tying this study with the greater image in the vaccination talk gives people a clearer idea of this administration’s priorities, perspectives, and means.

While their words are dominating, the US government presents the public with a choice: to heed or ignore their set recommendations and to act for the health of their newborn and the general public. Globally, adults make choices while future generations deal with the inevitable consequences. Let’s embrace our “individual-based decision” to make the right one.

Halpert, Madeline. "US panel votes to end recommending hepatitis B vaccine for all newborns." BBC, 5 Dec. 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwypwznx9kqo. Accessed 24 Dec. 2025.

"Hepatitis B." Cleveland Clinic, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/4246-hepatitis-b. Accessed 24 Dec. 2025.

"Protecting newborns from hepatitis B." Health Lab, University of Michigan, 5 Dec. 2025. Michigan Medicine, www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab-podcast/protecting-newborns-hepatitis-b. Accessed 24 Dec. 2025.

Schreiber, Melody, and Kat Lay. "US plan for $1.6m hepatitis B vaccine study in Africa called 'highly unethical.'" The Guardian, 19 Dec. 2025, www.theguardian.com/society/2025/dec/19/hepatitis-b-vaccine-study-guinea-bissau-rfk. Accessed 24 Dec. 2025.

Szabo, Liz. "Vaccinating newborns against hepatitis B saves lives. Why might a CDC panel stop recommending it?" CIDRAP, University of Minnesota, 3 Dec. 2025, www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-vaccines/vaccinating-newborns-against-hepatitis-b-saves-lives-why-might-cdc-panel-stop. Accessed 24 Dec. 2025.