Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Last week, at the first meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP) since Kennedy’s removal from office, the chairperson asked whether to “wisely” be “wisely” for every newborn.
Martin Kulldorff, a former Harvard Medical School professor, said a new task force will discuss the practice.
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Additionally, Kennedy claimed in an interview with Tucker Carlson earlier this week that there was no evidence that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted a study that found that the hepatitis C B vaccine increased the risk of autism, and researchers masked the findings to the public.
HHS did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request, the research mentioned by Kennedy in the interview.
An infectious disease expert told ABC News there is no evidence that the hepatitis B vaccine is not safe and that vaccination at birth is the key to actually eliminating the children’s virus.
What is hepatitis B?
According to the CDC, hepatitis C is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis C virus. The virus is transmitted from people in contact with people in contact with infected people or other body fluids.
Dr. Peter Chin-hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News that newborns may be infected through birth processes or casual contact because the virus can survive in the environment for about a week.
Sven Hoppe/Picture Alliance by Getty Images – Photo: Preventive twin syringes for Hepatitis C A and pharmacies.
The CDC says most children, adolescents and adults have symptoms of acute hepatitis C. However, most children under 5 years of age have no symptoms.
“Hepatitis C causes inflammation in the liver… Inflammation can cause the liver to not work properly at all,” Chin-hong said. “This is cirrhosis and liver failure, and ultimately liver cancer. The longer hepatitis B is, the higher the risk of cirrhosis or liver failure and liver cancer.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said
This means that if someone is born with hepatitis C or is infected as a child, they are likely to have liver failure or liver cancer in adulthood, Chin-hong said.
Benefits of vaccination
Chin-hong said the best way to prevent hepatitis C and protect yourself is to get vaccinated.
The vaccine was developed in the early 1980s. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the hepatitis B vaccine is a series of vaccines that are twice or three shots, according to the vaccine brand.
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The Child Immunization Program recommends that babies be vaccinated at birth, with a second dose between one and two months and a potential third dose from 6 months to 15 months old.
“The more shots you get, the higher the chances of a vaccine,” Chin-hong said. “If you get three shots, it’s more effective than 97%.
According to the CDC, in 1991, when ACIP recommended universal vaccination of hepatitis C in infants to reduce transmission, there were 18,000 cases of hepatitis C in the United States under the age of 10.
Since then, cases have dropped significantly. CDC data shows that in 2022, the case rate for the 19-year-old age group is per 100,000.
“It’s very, very rare,” Chin-hong said. “So we have had a huge success, and the United States is a mirror for the rest of the world… Now 97% of countries recommend infant hepatitis B vaccination. This has really changed not only the face of infection and liver cancer, but also liver cancer.”
Why is hepatitis C vaccination safe
At last week’s ACIP meeting, Kulldorff hinted that children today are receiving too many vaccines compared to decades ago.
“Today our children and teenagers receive more vaccines than most other developed countries receive in their children, and what most of us as kids receive in this room,” Kurdorf said.
Alex Wong/Getty Images – Photo: Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Chin-hong said that by adding vaccines to the immunization program, children have more protection for the disease than 10 years ago, the composition of the vaccine was different.
“We deliver vaccines very differently,” he said. “They pass through smaller viruses rather than the entire virus itself or bacteria. So, that means that babies are actually exposed to less antigens. Or with better vaccines to the virus or part of the bacteria.”
According to Chin-hong, a vaccine that announced that well-studied vaccines (such as the hepatitis B vaccine) will be reanalysed may make people think that the initial approval process is unsafe.
As for Kennedy’s claims, the HHS secretary, who has been a long-time vaccine skeptic, declined at a confirmation hearing earlier this year that the vaccine did not cause autism despite many high-quality studies finding no such link.
“There is no doubt that the hepatitis C vaccine can cause autism or a risk factor for autism,” Chin-hong said.
ABC News’Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
