This is the health news story today, and it’s not a fun one. This morning, the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel (ACIP) voted to stop a universal recommendation for the hepatitis B vaccine at birth.
For the past 34 years, the CDC has recommended that newborns get a dose of the hep B vaccine within their first 24 hours. This has effectively eliminated Hep B in kids born in the U.S. since 1991, where pediatric cases are (or were…) down 99%. Over that time, there have been randomized trials, national safety monitoring programs, and follow-up studies that show that the hep B vaccine is safe, regardless of timing.
There is no cure for hepatitis B. It’s a viral infection that can lead to liver disease, cancer, and death. It is often passed from a mother to child during birth, and can be hard to identify until later in life, when liver problems may be severe.
The ACIP, after delaying this vote twice due to general confusion, has now confirmed some big changes.Specifically, they recommend that most parents discuss with their doctors whether to give the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, or at all, and that those who choose to do so wait until their baby is at least 2 months old.
They still recommend the vaccine for any mothers that test positive for hepatitis B during pregnancy, but a review of over 400 studies by the Vaccine Integrity Project showed that 18% of pregnant women aren’t ever tested for Hep B before they give birth. Of those who test positive, only 35% receive all recommended follow-up care.
What it means for employers...
For employers, this won’t have much impact for now. Hepatitis B is primarily spread from mother to child, through sex, and through blood. For most workplaces, your only Hep B exposure risks could come through bloodborne pathogen exposure after an injury, or an accidental needlestick. It will likely be years until we start to really see and feel the impacts of this policy change, but as infectious diseases like hep B start to rise and fewer members of the workforce are protected, employers will need to start beefing up their post-incident emergency response and clean-up.
In the meantime, this is just another blow to vaccine confidence, and we think it will continue to play out in workplaces through lower vaccination rates for all vaccine-preventable diseases, not just hepatitis B.
Sources: CBS, CIDRAP, STAT, Vaccine Integrity Project, OSHA
In the past, the CDC is one of seven labs worldwide that sequence hundreds of flu samples and work with the WHO to help determine the best matches for the next flu season. But with the U.S. withdrawing from the WHO and trust in the CDC around vaccines diminishing, there’s been a 60% drop off in flu samples sent from around the world. As a result, next year’s flu shot may be a worse match because of that missing data.