Cassidy Urges CDC to Reject ACIP’s New Hepatitis B Recommendation

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met earlier this month for their final meeting of the year. During their meeting, ACIP voted in favor (8-3) of reversing the recommendation that the Hepatitis B vaccine be administered to children at birth regardless of if the mother is negative for the virus or doesn’t know their status. A recording of the meeting is available here and the recommendation is expected to be posted here. Before the meeting took place, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who served as a physician prior to entering Congress, posted about the committee on Twitter, stating, “The ACIP is totally discredited. They are not protecting children.” Following the vote on changing the Hepatitis B recommendation, Sen. Cassidy continued, “This makes America sicker. Acting CDC Director [Jim] O’Neill should not sign these new recommendations and instead retain the current, evidence-based approach.” It is currently unclear whether the CDC will adopt this recommendation; however, O’Neill has a history of vaccine skepticism.

As previously reported, ACIP has undergone major changes this year, with Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removing all members of the committee and replacing them with vaccine skeptics. Further, this move contributed to the abrupt firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez after she reportedly refused to agree to accept recommendations from the committee regardless of scientific evidence (see previous COSSA’s coverage). In response, Sen. Cassidy questioned Secretary Kennedy and Monarez in two separate hearings in September, and raised concerns over the ACIP making recommendations without sufficient scientific evidence (see previous COSSA coverage). While members of Congress, including Sen. Cassidy, have vowed to conduct oversight of the new committee members and potential conflicts of interest, little movement has been made on the issue since.

Stay tuned for COSSA’s continued coverage of the Administration.