Hepatitis B

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:00:20 GMT

Recent ACIP discussions have suggested changes to the birth Hepatitis B vaccine, but AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) continues to strongly recommend the birth dose . Before this practice began, 30,000 babies contracted Hepatitis B every year , 90% became chronically infected , and 1 in 4 died from liver cancer or cirrhosis .

For your child’s safety, we continue to follow AAP guidelines.

Extended Information on Hepatitis B Birth Dose

For over 34 years , the recommendation to vaccinate all newborns against Hepatitis B at birth has been one of the most successful public-health strategies in pediatrics. Since its adoption, the rate of Hepatitis B infections in children and young adults has decreased by 99% .

Recent changes in ACIP recommendations introduce the idea of selectively giving the birth dose only to infants whose parents are screened or considered at risk. However, this approach has been tried before—and it failed.

As Dr. Ravi Jhaveri explains, this new recommendation “assumes that we can accurately predict who has infection and who will be exposed in the future; we cannot.” Prior targeted strategies—vaccinating only infants of known infected mothers—did not reduce infection rates. “ This is the lesson we learned prior to starting the birth dose ,” he noted.

Before universal newborn vaccination was implemented, approximately 30,000 children were infected with Hepatitis B every year in the United States. The consequences were severe:

90% of infants infected at birth developed chronic Hepatitis B
25% of those with chronic infection later died from liver cancer or cirrhosis

The Hepatitis B birth dose remains a safe, effective, and essential protection for newborns. It is the only safeguard a baby has in case a parent’s infection is unknown, missed, or develops later.
Importantly, private insurance plans will continue to cover the birth dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine.
Kidz1st Pediatrics will continue to follow the AAP’s long-standing recommendation to vaccinate all newborns at birth to ensure the highest level of protection for every child.

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Hepatitis B