Sen. Bill Cassidy, who is also a physician who has spent much of his medical career treating hepatitis B, said Sunday he’s “very concerned” about potential changes to the disease’s vaccine schedule for infants, saying that moving away from the recommendation for vaccines at birth could reverse decades of progress in prevention.
“Because of the recommended hepatitis B vaccine dose at birth, we have decreased the incidence of chronic hepatitis B by 20,000 people over the last two decades,” the Louisiana Republican said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
He stressed that early immunization has been instrumental in reducing chronic infections nationwide.
Further, Cassidy said the vaccine is safe and emphasized that the evidence supporting the current schedule is well established.
Proposals to revise the timing of the first dose stem either from a misunderstanding of how the disease spreads or complacency brought on by the success of the current guidelines, he added.
“This is policy by people who don’t understand the epidemiology of hepatitis B or who have grown comfortable with the fact that we’ve been so successful with our recommendation that now the incidence of hepatitis B is so low, they feel like we can rest on our laurels,” Cassidy said.
He added that as a doctor, he has seen people die from diseases that could have been prevented by a vaccine.
“I want to make America healthy, and you don’t start by stopping recommendations that have made us substantially healthier,” he said.
The changes under consideration come from the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, or ACIP, a group of outside experts who advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and vote on vaccine recommendations.
The panel is scheduled to meet Dec. 4-5, and its draft agenda includes multiple sessions on hepatitis B.
The committee could take up a delayed vote on whether to modify the recommended pediatric schedule, a decision it postponed in September.
Cassidy’s warnings come amid heightened national scrutiny of childhood vaccines and safety debates surrounding ingredients and dosing schedules.
While he did not comment on any specific proposal expected before ACIP, he said shifting away from the birth-dose recommendation would risk erasing gains that have sharply cut the number of babies who contract the virus from their mothers during or shortly after delivery.
He urged continued reliance on evidence-based policy, saying America should build on success rather than weaken protection that has saved lives and prevented long-term disease.
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