The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) joins leading scientific, medical, and patient advocacy organizations in expressing alarm at the actions taken by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at its meeting on December 4-5, 2025, including the decision to downgrade the longstanding recommendation to vaccinate all newborns against hepatitis B at birth.
In oral and written comments submitted to ACIP, NFID strongly supported maintaining the current hepatitis B vaccination schedule, including the birth dose and broad adult vaccination.
NFID joined the American Academy of Pediatrics and more than 40 other leading organizations in noting, “The evidence remains clear: the hepatitis B birth dose is safe and an essential component in helping children develop immunity against a serious, potentially lifelong disease. In fact, since the US implemented the hepatitis B birth dose in 1991, annual hepatitis B infections among infants and children have dropped 99%, from 16,000 to less than 20. This progress is directly attributable to timely vaccination.”
Previously, in response to the recent CDC webpage linking vaccines and autism, NFID led a joint letter signed by more than 50 organizations to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee urging that the webpage be updated to accurately reflect the current scientific consensus that there is no causal relationship between vaccines and autism and asking the HELP committee, in its oversight role, to ensure CDC and other federal science agencies uphold their critically important evidence-based communication practices.
About the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases
Founded in 1973, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to educating and engaging the public, communities, and healthcare professionals about infectious diseases across the lifespan. NFID has a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator and has earned a Platinum transparency seal from Candid/GuideStar. For more information, and to access trusted science-based resources on immunization for both healthcare professionals and the public, visit www.nfid.org.
Contact: communications@nfid.org
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