04/30/2026
CDC’s Decision To Delay Newborn Hepatitis B Vaccine Schedule Likely To Raise Infections, Increase Health Care Costs, Studies Suggest
The Washington Post (4/27, Sun) reports two studies published in JAMA Pediatrics suggest that the Administration’s “decision to drop the long-standing recommendation that newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth will likely lead to hundreds of additional infections among children, along with more cases of liver cancer, deaths and millions in added health care costs.” The first study “estimated that delaying the first hepatitis B vaccine dose by two months for babies born in a single year to mothers who tested negative – about 80% of the 3.6 million U.S. births annually – would increase lifetime health-care costs by at least $16 million.” Meanwhile, a second study estimated “that about 1,300 infants would still become infected with the virus each year under the policy that recommends the shot within 24 hours of birth. Their modeling also found infections would increase, with the size of the increase depending on how consistently pregnant women are screened and how widely the vaccine is given after birth.”
This modeling study estimates the impact of replacing universal hepatitis B virus birth-dose vaccination with a targeted recommendation on neonatal and subsequent chronic hepatitis B virus infections in the US.
