It is expected that the RFK JR.

Jackie Fortier

A major consultant committee is expected to vote for the recently replaced members of the Federal Vicus Robert F. Kennedy Junior to recommend the delay until the age of four years of hepatitis B, which is currently granted to the new iron.

“There is possible there is a discussion about hepatitis B vaccine, specifically tries to remove the dose of the birth from the hepatitis B vaccine and pushes it later in life,” said Demeter Daskalakis. Former director From the National Center for Virtue and respiratory diseases. “It is clear that this is a priority for the trustee.”

It is expected that the vote will take place during the next meeting of the Consulting Committee for Evidence practices at the Center for Disease Control, to be held from 18 to 19 September.

For more than 30 years, the first three shots of hepatitis B vaccine were recommended shortly after birth. At that time, the disease, which is likely to be almost a killer among American children, was eliminated. Pediatricians warn that waiting for four years on the vaccine opens the door for more children with the virus.

“Age 4 does not make sense.” “We recommend following a global approach to prevent those cases in which the test may be incorrect or the mother may have contracted in an indisputable manner. It is really the best way to maintain the health of our entire population.”

In addition to hepatitis B vaccine, painting You will also discuss And vote on the recommendations for measles, mumps, measles, foolish vaccine and Covid-19 vaccines. Pediatricians worry about the changes facing the schedules of these vaccines to reduce access to many families, making them vulnerable to vents.

ACIP usually analyzes data before recommending the vaccine instructions. As of the end of August, this process did not start hepatitis B vaccines B, Daskalakis and another former official.

“This is an unnecessary situation. There was no working group to discuss,” said Daslakis.

The former former first official spoke to NPR and KFFHELTH News, provided that his identity is not disclosed.

In response to questions from KFFHELTH News, HHS Andrew Nixon spokesman, “ACIP is present to ensure that the vaccine policy is guided by the best available evidence and open scientific deliberations. Any updates of recommendations will be made transparently with normative golden sciences.”

The draft agenda of the upcoming ACIP meeting was issued to the public less than a week before it started.

At the last ACIP meeting, in June, Martin Coldorf, the president and one of the seven new members chosen by Kennedy, asked about the need to vaccinate every newborn, pointing to only two of the many ways that the virus could spread. Coldor is a former professor at Harvard University Faculty of Medicine Opposition some public health measures During the epidemic.

He said: “Unless the mother is a positive hepatitis B, an argument can be presented to delay the vaccine for this infection, which is mainly spreading by sexual activity and intravenous drug use.”

The virus is spread by direct exposure to an infected physical fluid such as blood or semen. The disease has no treatment and can lead to dangerous conditions such as liver fibrosis and liver cancer later in life. Former officials said that the Consultative Committee for Control of Diseases may maintain the recommendation of newborns whose mothers suffer from hepatitis B or are considered vulnerable to the disease.

Divide protection

In 1991, Federal Health officials decided that it is recommended that newborns will get the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine at home 24 hours of birthAnd that prevents the virus from seizing if it is sent during delivery. While parents may penetrate the shots, many day care centers and educational areas It requires proof Hepatitis B vaccination for recording.

The possibility of ACIP has left the recommendation some people who live with the deeply unstable virus.

“I feel frustrated,” said Wendy Lu, who lived with liver disease, said from birth. Years of mobility in the psychological, critical, medical and social aspects of chronic hepatitis B have touched almost all aspects of her life.

She said, “I don’t want anyone to test it if it can be prevented,” she said. I learned if she was suffering from the disease due to a routine examination of study abroad in the college.

Lo is attributed to vaccines by protecting her family members close to infection.

She said, “I participated with my partner,” if you are vaccinated, we can be together. ”He got the vaccine, which protects him from the infection,“ So I am grateful for that, ”she said.

The Center for Disease Control is estimated at half of the people with hepatitis B. I don’t know They are the injured. It can range from a moderate acute infection to a chronic infection, often Few or non -symptoms. Most people have chronic hepatitis outside the United States, Asians and Pacific Islands Follow Blacks have the highest rates of newly reported chronic infections.

When her children were born, if she was designed to receive the newborn dose, a decision she said prevented them from contracting the virus.

Previous infection occurs, The more worse the consequencesAccording to the center of control and protecting it. When contracting with childhood or early childhood, hepatitis B is likely to become a chronic infection, which leads to the damage of the liver silently over decades.

Those who become chronic carriers can also spread the virus to others and face an increased risk of long -term complications including liver fibrosis and liver cancer, which may not become clear until later in life.

“I am now in the fifties of my life, one of my big fears is liver cancer. The vaccine is safe and effective, it saves life, protects you from cancer. How many vaccines do you do it?” Lu said.

Thirty years of comprehensive vaccination

Treatments such as antivirals are not available now until the 1990s. Repeated virus contracts have not been verified by the liver. Every six months is afraid of what her blood tests may reveal.

After approving a vaccine in the 1980s, public health officials initially focused on vaccination efforts on people who believe they are at risk of injury.

“I, and every other doctor, have been trained on the Faculty of Medicine to think about hepatitis B as an infection it gained as an adult. The pimps, prostitutes, prisoners, and healthcare practitioners who had hepatitis B infection were, but we have learned a lot.” William ShavenerProfessor of infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Vanderbelt and a former voting member in ACIP.

Since hepatitis B rates were stubbornly high in the 1980s, scientists realized that a whole weakened group was missing from the vaccination system – newborns. The virus is Often it moves From a mother infected to a child late pregnancy or during childbirth.

“We may hear soon,” Let’s just do a blood test on all pregnant women. “We have tried.

He said that some doctors were not tested, and some pregnant women have tested a negative lie, while others gained hepatitis B after they were tested earlier in pregnancy.

In 1991, Shavener was an ACIP calling representative when I voted on him Provide advice for comprehensive vaccination For hepatitis B before the infant leaves the hospital.

“We don’t want any injured children. Therefore, we will just vaccinate every mother and every child at birth. The problem has been resolved. I have succeeded greatly in eliminating hepatitis B in children,” he said.

In 1990, there were 3.03 cases of hepatitis B per 100,000 19,000 people or under the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control.

Since the federal recommendation to vaccinate all infants, cases have decreased significantly. CDC data He explains that in 2022 it was average between these 19 or less than 0.1 per 100,000.

While hepatitis B is often associated with high -risk behaviors such as drug use or multiple sexual partners, Health experts Note that the virus can also be transmitted in normal situations, including among young children.

The virus can survive Up to seven days Outside the body. During that time, even the microscopic effects of infected blood on a School office or stadium equipment It can pose a danger. If the virus comes into contact with an open wound or mucous membranes of the eyes, the infection can occur. This means that non -immune children who are not considered at a great risk can be exposed to daily environments.

Access in the future is sure

If the Disease Control Center greatly changes its recommendation, then health insurance companies will not be needed to cover the cost of the shots. This parents may leave to pay his pocket for a long vaccine that has been provided without any fees. Children who get vaccinations through federalism Children’s vaccines The program will lose free access to the snapshot once you agree to any new recommendations from ACIP by CDC manager.

Two former officials at the Disease Control Center said that the plans were underway to decline the official recommendation of the vaccine as of August, when the agency left, but may have changed.

Shavener is still an alternative member of ACIP, and he hopes to express his support for the global vaccination of the United States at the next meeting.

“Communications have now been excluded from vaccine work groups. They are still allowed to attend full meetings,” he said.

Shavener is concerned about the next generation of children and doctors who care about them.

He said: “We will see in hepatitis B cases again. We will see a move to the next generation, and the next generation of people who wear white coats deal with hepatitis B, when we could cut it in the corridor, will have to deal with hepatitis B, when we could cut it in the corridor.”

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