Robert F Kennedy Jr’s vaccine advisory committee convenes on Thursday to consider a reversal of a decades-long program of childhood immunizations, including a recommendation to delay hepatitis B shots for newborn babies.
For decades, federal health recommendations have suggested that all newborns be vaccinated against the virus that can lead to serious liver disease. Kennedy, the US health secretary and a prominent anti-vaccine activist, has long pushed for delaying the shot.
Experts say any change to the hepatitis B schedule could have significant and far-reaching consequences. According to a study published in 2023 in the official journal of the US surgeon general, there was a 99% decline in reported cases of acute hepatitis B among children, adolescents and young adults between 1990 and 2019 as a direct result of infant immunization.
Earlier this year, Kennedy paved the way for the change after he dismissed all 17 members of the advisory committee on immunization practices, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on how to use vaccines. He has replaced them with his own appointees, including several vaccine skeptics who align with Kennedy’s desire to overhaul – and possibly, in some cases, scrap – longstanding vaccination recommendations.
The panel’s membership changed again this week, when HHS announced that the committee’s most recent chair, Dr Martin Kulldorff, would depart for an official role within the agency. He was replaced by Dr Kirk Milhoan, a cardiologist who has been critical of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The committee has already begun to put its stamp on policy. In June, members backed a shift to thimerosal-free formulations of the seasonal influenza vaccine, despite a lack of evidence that the preservative poses a risk.
In September, the panel voted to change US vaccine policy and start recommending that children receive multiple vaccines to protect against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, instead of a single vaccine that can protect against all four diseases. The following day, the panel voted against recommending that people obtain a prescription for a Covid-19 vaccine.
The advisory panel can only make recommendations to the head of the CDC, acting director Jim O’Neill. The previous director, Susan Monarez, was ousted by the Trump administration in August after the White House claimed she was “not aligned” with the president’s agenda.
Childhood immunization rates continue to fall across the United States, amid a rise in vaccine hesitancy exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2025, the US has been among dozens of countries that reported large measles outbreaks. Whooping cough cases remain elevated after a sharp post-pandemic rise; the illness, known as pertussis, is especially dangerous for infants and young children. Several deaths from whooping cough have been recorded this year, including in Kentucky, Louisiana and Washington state.
