ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — A panel that makes recommendations on vaccines to the nation’s health leaders suggested changing a policy that’s been in place for over 30 years.

The change centers around the vaccination for hepatitis B, a dangerous liver disease transmitted sexually or through exchange of bodily fluids. In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control tracked over 17,000 newly reported chronic cases of hepatitis B, according to their most recent data from 2023.

Since 1991, it’s been recommended that parents give their newborn infants the first of three doses the day they’re born.

On Friday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Policy (ACIP) recommended waiting two months, and possibly forgoing the second and third dose altogether, bucking over 30 years of standing hep-B vaccination policy.

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While some on the panel expressed concern – noting the vaccine has been deemed safe and effective for decades – others said adverse effects and the overall efficacy of the shot were questionable due to lack of research. They also said it was overkill to universally vaccinate infants who had no possibility of having the virus transmitted directly from their mothers.

“Do you want to expose your child, your baby, to an intervention that could have some potential harms when the risk is so low?” said Retsef Levi, a member of ACIP. “We don’t think that it’s the correct view to view vaccination of children as a safety net for adults’ mistakes and flaws in our healthcare system.”

The final 8-2 vote to recommend the change is just that – a recommendation. Any hardline policy will still have to be implemented by leaders at the CDC and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“It’s not ACIP that sets policy,” said Dr. Robert Malone, another member of ACIP. “It’s the appointed director of the CDC.”

Other ACIP members said the risk of failing to universally vaccinate all U.S. newborns could lead to even more cases.

“Hepatitis B vaccine recommendation is very well established. We know it’s safe and we know it’s very effective,” said ACIP member Dr. Cody Meissner. “And to make the changes that are being proposed, we will see more children and adolescents and adults infected with hepatitis B.”

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ACIP members like Dr. Evelyn Griffin, an OB/GYN doctor, suggested better hep-B screenings for parents to determine if the risk necessitates immediately vaccinating a newborn.

“Is it fair, is it incumbent on the babies to save us from this when it really may be more of an adult problem?” she said during Thursday’s meeting, the first of two that saw debate over the vaccine.

At Thursday’s meeting, members decided to table a vote until the following day. Some members hadn’t seen the official language for the vote and wanted more time to understand what they were voting for. The panel, several weeks prior, had already pushed off a vote on recommending a change to the hepatitis B vaccine schedule.

Meissner voted to abstain, saying he still had questions about the ultimate goal of the recommendation change.

“Several times I’ve heard people say that we’re viewing children as a means of protecting society against hepatitis B, and why should they bear the brunt? That’s absolutely not true,” he said. “We are giving the vaccine to protect the infant. We’re not giving it to protect society, we’re giving it to protect the infant against a potentially fatal disease, which we know is very effective.”

According to CDC data, infants who receive the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine the day they’re born receive 90% protection from transmission. Babies who eventually receive the additional two doses in the regimen receive 98% protection.

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