Meidas Health: AAP President Strongly Pushes Back on Hepatitis B Vaccine Changes
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What prompted the emergency discussion on hepatitis B vaccine changes?
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Why is the hepatitis B vaccine crucial for infants?
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Midas Mighty, it's great to have you back here for Midas Health. This is an emergency pod with the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Susan Kressley. She's been a guest on our show a few months ago, and I suspect she's going to be a frequent guest, just given everything that's happening. Dr. Kressley, thanks for joining us again.
Thanks so much for having me.
So for our audience, if you're tuning in to the news here, it's Friday, December the 5th.
How has the hepatitis B vaccination strategy evolved over time?
Anytime today or this weekend, you're probably going to see headlines about hepatitis B vaccine guidance being recommended to change by the advisory committee on immunization practices, this advisory body that advises the CDC director on what to do when it comes to the childhood vaccine schedule, among other things. Dr. Krusty, why are we having this conversation about hepatitis B vaccine?
So I want to start historically. I mean, hepatitis B has been a problem in this country. It's an infection that is often silent early. And when young infants and children get hepatitis B, they can go on to have chronic hepatitis, that's chronic liver disease, can lead to liver failure, need a liver transplant, and can even end up with liver cancer. And so since we've made the connection between infection with hepatitis B and all of these outcomes for children, science has really worked hard to figure out how do we protect every young infant and child from getting hepatitis B in the first place? And that is through robust vaccination. When I started When I started in practice, hepatitis B was only recommended for what we considered high-risk individuals.
What are the risks associated with a test-and-immunize strategy for hepatitis B?
We now know that it is such a ubiquitous virus and it is so contagious that we can't use a risk strategy in order to protect our young children. And so in... we have moved to a universal strong recommendation saying that every infant should get the hepatitis B shot after birth before they go home from the hospital in order to make sure they have protection. That whole scientific fact-based schedule was questioned over the last two days by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which is the committee that sets public health recommendations for our entire country.
Why does it matter, just to put a really fine point on this, you raise that hepatitis B vaccine guides for infants has changed over time. And I see, especially in sort of far right information circles, that you can only get hepatitis B if you're having sex or if you're injecting drugs. And I'm hopeful you can help us understand why that's only part of the picture.
Yeah, that is only part of the picture. And quite frankly, remember, if you're having a baby, somebody had sex.
Why do some believe hepatitis B is only a risk for certain populations?
So that includes everybody who's ever had a baby, right? But let's talk about the contagiousness of hepatitis B. It can live on surfaces. It can be spread through touching from someone who's shedding the virus to someone else. And it's more contagious than HIV. The other problem with hepatitis B is in adults, at least half of the people in this country who have hepatitis B don't know they have it. So they are unknowingly leaving hepatitis B germs places that can put other people at risk. And so that includes, and I've seen this personally, there was a child in my practice who got hepatitis B in the first several weeks of life.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What prompted the emergency discussion on hepatitis B vaccine changes?
0:00–1:02
2
Why is the hepatitis B vaccine crucial for infants?
1:02–1:47
3
How has the hepatitis B vaccination strategy evolved over time?
1:47–3:09
4
What are the risks associated with a test-and-immunize strategy for hepatitis B?
3:09–4:35
5
Why do some believe hepatitis B is only a risk for certain populations?
4:35–5:41
6
What evidence supports the need for universal hepatitis B vaccination?
5:41–6:49
7
How can parents advocate for their children's vaccination?
6:49–8:01
8
What are the broader implications of vaccine confidence on public health?
8:01–19:18