Explainer: Why are hepatitis B vaccines given to newborns?

A national vaccine advisory panel has reversed a decades-old recommendation that all newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, a move that public health experts say could weaken hard-won progress against the virus. The new guidance limits the birth-dose to infants whose mothers are infected or whose status is unknown, shifting vaccination decisions for others to parents and doctors. Hepatitis B remains a leading cause of liver cancer, and advocates worry that loosening universal protection could allow infections to quietly rise again. Nancy Lapid with Reuters has the full story.

Nancy Lapid

Reuters

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