Writing in the Los Angeles Times, UC San Diego pediatrician Joshua Rothman argues that federal vaccine policy changes are setting up a resurgence of hepatitis B in infants after his study found newborn hepatitis B vaccination rates fell by more than 10% between 2023 and August 2025. He says hepatitis B once infected about 18,000 U.S. children under 10 each year, with about half of cases transmitted at birth, while up to 90% of babies infected in their first year develop chronic disease. The concern follows a December ACIP revision that shifted vaccination for babies born to hepatitis B-negative mothers from universal recommendation to individual clinical decision-making. Rothman says conflicting CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics schedules, plus a federal judge’s temporary block on the CDC and HHS changes, are already prompting parents to question which schedule to follow as an estimated 660,000 Americans live with chronic hepatitis B and roughly half do not know they are infected.
