![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Infant-Covid-Vaccine-1200x800.jpg\")
A parent holds his 16-month-old daughter as she receives the Moderna Covid-19 vaccination in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 21, 2022. File photo by Rick Bowmer\/AP<\/p>\nA parent holds his 16-month-old daughter as she receives the Moderna Covid-19 vaccination in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 21, 2022. File photo by Rick Bowmer\/AP<\/p>\n
The federal panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s vaccine recommendations made one of its biggest moves on vaccine policy to date on Friday, saying that rather than vaccinate all newborns against hepatitis B at birth, parents and caregivers should delay the vaccine series until their child is 2 months old \u2014\u00a0if they choose to vaccinate them at all.<\/p>\n
Vermont state officials are adamant that providers and families do not follow the panel\u2019s recommendation and continue to give infants a dose at birth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even before the decision from the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, called ACIP, the Vermont Department of Health issued a public advisory to maintain its support for infants to be vaccinated within 24 hours of birth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m concerned,\u201d the state\u2019s health commissioner, Rick Hildebrant, said in light of the federal panel\u2019s decision. \u201cThe biggest concern I have is the confusion that this will cause.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sent the press release to make sure Vermonters know what our recommendation is, that it\u2019s backed by science by 30 years of precedent, that it has been effective and safe in preventing chronic liver disease in folks,\u201d Hildebrant said.<\/p>\n
The federal panel voted 8-3 for the delayed vaccination. In June, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gutted the existing lineup<\/a> of experts on the CDC panel and instead stacked the panel with many outspoken skeptics of vaccines<\/a>.<\/p>\n The state recommends the birth-dose, followed by a series of vaccines for a child to complete by the time they are 18 months, as essential to prevent hepatitis B infections. The virus targets the liver and can lead to liver failure, cirrhosis and liver cancer. Though adults exposed to the virus are more able to clear it, 90% of infants infected develop chronic conditions.<\/p>\n Typically, the state Health Department buys the vaccines directly from the CDC at a low cost. That allows for easy distribution to the health care providers who administer the vaccines. Since the CDC panel\u2019s recommendation delays, rather than entirely rejects, the vaccine, Hildebrant is not yet sure if or how this decision will alter the state\u2019s ability to buy the vaccines and distribute them.<\/p>\n Kristina Massari, a spokesperson for BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont, said the state\u2019s largest commercial insurer does not expect a significant shortage of vaccines in the coming year, since a recommendation is still partially in place.\u00a0<\/p>\n ACIP\u2019s recommendation only applies to infants whose parent tested negative for hepatitis B while pregnant. The panel did not change the recommendations for those whose parents test positive, or those who do not test at all for the virus.<\/p>\n \u201cBlue Cross VT is not changing its coverage of Hepatitis B vaccines,\u201d Massari wrote in an email. \u201cMembers will have zero cost-share and will not be required to obtain prior authorization to receive this vital vaccination.\u201d<\/p>\n Hildebrant said he and his colleagues are preparing to act, should they need to adjust the procurement and distribution pathways, though he is not sure what that would look like exactly. He worries about the added cost of buying the vaccines directly from the manufacturer and the logistics of needing to take on the distribution of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Federal insurers will also continue to cover the vaccine, a policy analyst for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, Andrew Johnson, told the ACIP committee, as first reported by STAT, a health care news source<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only do they care immensely about their insured individuals,\u201d Hildebrant said of Vermonters\u2019 insurance companies, \u201cbut they also know that this is going to save money. I mean, it\u2019s very costly to not get vaccinated and then end up with a chronic illness. And that\u2019s the least important part of this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Since the CDC adopted the recommendation of a birth-dose in 1991, the United States saw a significant decrease in hepatitis B cases, dropping from a total of nearly 18,000 to fewer than 3,000 new diagnoses annually, a 2023 public health report<\/a> found.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t get that kind of response rate in medicine with treatment,\u201d Hildebrant said, becoming animated about the vaccine\u2019s efficacy. \u201cThat is just remarkable. And the thought of going back to the days where we\u2019re seeing 14,000 to 18,000 kids contracting hepatitis B across the country is not one that we\u2019re excited about. It\u2019s one we\u2019re really, really concerned about.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Cody Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth\u2019s Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, is one of Kennedy\u2019s recent ACIP appointees. He has a history on the panel, having served under President Barack Obama between 2008 and 2012. He was one of the few dissenters in Friday\u2019s meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI will just say, we have heard \u2018do no harm\u2019 as a moral imperative. We are doing harm by changing this wording,\u201d Meissner said as he cast his no vote during the panel<\/a>.<\/p>\n The state health department echoed his concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of incredible incredulity about this. \u2018Why is this happening?\u2019 And I don\u2019t think anyone has a good answer to [the question of] why are people doing this,\u201d Hildebrant said. \u201cAll I can say is, it\u2019s clearly not based in science.\u201d<\/p>\n The state Health Department has been coordinating and in frequent communication with counterparts across the region, according to Hildebrant. Following upheaval at the CDC this summer, Vermont joined a regional coalition<\/a> to solidify more consensus as federal guidance contradicts consensus public health science.<\/p>\n