Senator Bill Cassidy is speaking out after a CDC panel voted to change the recommendation for the Hepatitis B vaccine.
Since 1991, it had been recommended for all babies immediately after birth; last week, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to change that recommendation to include only babies born to mothers who test positive for the virus.
Cassidy says decisions like these ought to be about protecting children’s health.
“It should not be about an ideology, or a hostility, on the basis of a personal prejudice,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy says since the vaccine had been recommended, insurance providers had covered it. But now, with the change in recommendation, that’s now in limbo.
“If a mother wants to give her child a safe, effective vaccine when the child is born, she should be able to do that. And changing recommendations will make it harder for that insurance coverage to be assured,” Cassidy explained.
Cassidy says there is no doubt as to the effectiveness of the Hepatitis B vaccine.
“Before the birth, those recommendations, it’s not a mandate, it’s a recommendation. There were about 20,000 cases of hepatitis B associated with birth per year. Now it’s down to 20 a year,” Cassidy noted.