State leaders and public health officials are denouncing a federal advisory committee’s move Friday to drop the recommendation that newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine, and they’re vowing to ensure the vaccination remains available.
For decades, the government has advised that all newborns be vaccinated against hepatitis B — a viral infection that attacks the liver and can lead to chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, and liver cancer.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted Friday to end that longstanding recommendation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to decide later whether to accept the committee’s recommendation.
“I think this was a reckless decision, a decision not based in science or based on the data that are available, but instead a decision that was based on the ideology of the members of this committee,” said Dr. Robbie Goldstein, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
In June, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all 17 members of the advisory committee and replaced them with his own appointees.
“This vote by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handpicked advisers is dangerous and wrong,” Governor Maura Healey said in a written statement. “I want the people of Massachusetts to know that your state Department of Public Health — led by an actual doctor [Goldstein] and guided by science and data — continues to recommend that newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine. We are going to continue to work with other states to ensure that all of our residents can receive the vaccines they need and want to keep them and their children healthy.”
Goldstein said the state has taken steps to prevent the change in federal recommendations from having an impact in Massachusetts.
“So, what does that look like? It means that we have a division of insurance here in Massachusetts that’s requiring Massachusetts-based insurers to cover vaccines that are recommended by the Department of Public Health,” he said.
The state legislature has authorized the DPH to make recommendations on vaccines, Goldstein said.
“[And] we have a Department of Public Health itself that has built the infrastructure necessary to purchase vaccines and distribute them, to get them into hospitals and to clinics so that no matter where you go, you have access to the vaccines,” Goldstein added.
And yet, Goldstein and other public health leaders say they’re worried the federal recommendation will lead to fewer babies getting vaccinated.
“They’re trying to confuse the American people,” he said. “They are trying to inject doubt into this conversation. What I am hopeful for is that people here in Massachusetts are smarter than that, that they know we have a Department of Public Health that is committed to using science and evidence to make our recommendations, that they can look to the Department of Public Health for guidance and support.”
The hepatitis B vaccine has long been recommended immediately after birth because the virus can be passed from an infected mother to the baby during birth. But the federal advisory committee recommended it only for babies whose mothers test positive and in cases where the mother wasn’t tested.
Boston’s commissioner of public health, Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, said Friday that she’s worried that the new recommendations will leave babies exposed.
“I am certainly concerned,” Ojikutu said. “There are pregnant people who do not have adequate prenatal care, even here in Boston. And therefore they may not receive the recommended hepatitis B testing, or they may acquire hepatitis B after the initial test. And any delay in vaccination opens up opportunity for exposure, putting infants at risk. So certainly this is a concern, even here in Boston.”
Carlene Pavlos, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Health Alliance said after the advisory committee’s decision was announced Friday that she feels a “devastating loss” of federal leadership “that is trustworthy and evidence-based.”
At the same time, Pavlos said, she’s grateful for the steps taken by the state.
“I feel lucky to live in Massachusetts and in the northeast of the country, where the public health leadership is continuing to follow the science and continuing to have policies that will allow access to science-based vaccines,” Pavlos said.
This story includes reporting from the Associated Press.
