By Michael Erman, Julie Steenhuysen and Christy Santhosh Dec 5 (Reuters) - U.S. vaccine advisers on Friday scrapped a long-standing recommendation that all American newborns receive the hepatitis B shot,

“The American people have benefited from the committee’s well-informed, rigorous discussion about the appropriateness of a vaccination in the first few hours of life,” said Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services and CDC Acting Director Jim O’Neill.

In a step toward Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s goal of upending vaccine policy, the committee decided to delay the shots for babies of mothers who test negative for the virus, reversing longstanding guidance.

The best way to prevent hepatitis B infection is vaccination. The vaccines are highly effective at preventing infection in infants and for long-term protection into adulthood.

In a controversial move, the vaccine advisory group reversed a recommendations for universal immunizing of newborns intended to protect them from a virus that attacks the liver.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory Dec. 3 on an outbreak of Marburg virus in Ethiopia.

Americans’ confidence in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has plummeted, according to a 2025 National Foundation for Infectious Diseases survey, and many young people are

After losing thousands of staffers and facing attacks this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is hampered in its ability to protect the public from health problems and emergencies.