A panel that advises on U.S. vaccine policy voted on Friday to recommend a delay in when most babies begin to be vaccinated against hepatitis B, overturning a 30-year-old policy that has contributed to a massive decline in cases of the virus.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 8-3 to recommend the change, following more than a day of contentious discussion. The new recommendation is that parents should discuss with their doctors whether to give the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, or at all, and that those who choose to do so should wait to begin the vaccine series until their baby is at least 2 months old.
