On Dec. 5, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices changed 34 years of recommended practice in regard to the hepatitis B vaccine in children. They changed the recommendation to “shared clinical decision making” without new safety data to support the change. You can be assured Health Commissioner Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will make the recommendation policy.
Within hours, on the same day, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and its Department of Public Health issued an official health alert. They urged no change, saying it will “continue to recommend the 3-dose hepatitis B vaccine for all children, with the first dose givien within 24 hours of birth for healthy medically stable infants.”
Since implementation of the universal hepatitis B vaccination in 1991, there has been a 99% reduction in the incidence of hepatitis B infection among infants and children. It looks like Kennedy and his hand-picked committee aren’t satisfied with only having our children die of measles. Now let’s have kids die of hepatitis.
“Shared decision making” with your medical provider sounds good. No need for universal recommendations when you can spend time with your trusted provider as to the pros and cons of your child getting a vaccine. Maybe it works if you have a provider who you trust, and both of you trust medical science, and you both you can make time, and when it’s not about infectious disease affecting others. After all, it’s so easy these days to get a timely appointment with your provider.
The reason the advisory committee recommends this is because they know that in most cases, it won’t work. There were many critical letters in the Monitor months ago about DHHS and the DPH not joining the Massachusetts led regional state alliance on COVID-19 and flu vaccine recommendations. This was due to push back last fall, like now, of new CDC recommendations.
Their reasoning then was that Governor Ayotte wanted her health care team to be independent in looking out for our health. They eventually made recommendations similar to the Massachusetts group. This time on hepatitis B, they responded within hours, even before Massachusetts, recognizing now that the new re-worked CDC is dangerous. Kudos to Dr. Benjamin Chan, state epidemiologist, and Dr. Jonathan Ballard, chief medical director of the DHHS, for guiding us and protecting our health here in New Hampshire in a decisive way.
As to Kennedy, one should remember we were warned by his first cousin, Caroline Kennedy, a week before his Senate confirmation, that he was a dangerous predator. The deciding vote in Kennedy’s favor came from Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician. If Cassidy has any conscience, he should acknowledge that patients are now harmed by his vote for Kennedy and therefore violated his Hippocratic Oath to do no harm. Caroline Kennedy, meanwhile, has been proven right.
Nick Perencevich is a semi-retired physician who lives in Concord.