A vote on whether to change the timing of the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns is expected on Friday.
The vote was delayed after a contentious and confusing meeting among members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for the Health and Human Services Department, who debated the wording of three questions.
The advisory panel remade by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, was scheduled to change the current recommendation that infants get the first of three hepatitis B vaccine doses within 24 hours of birth, alarming health experts who say there’s no evidence for the adjustments.
Regardless of the outcome, there is growing concern that the continuing rhetoric about the safety and efficacy of these vaccines will compromise Americans’ health.
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News4JAX Anchor Bruce Hamilton talked with Candace DeMatteis, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy for the Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease, about what she said is a growing problem caused by vaccine hesitancy, a spread of once-eradicated diseases and worries that those problems will get worse.
Press play above to watch the full interview