of the small coffins dept
The damn maniacs did it.
We talked yesterday about how vaccinations for hepatitis B in newborns were on the agenda for this latest meeting at ACIP, the CDC’s immunization advisory panel. You probably know all this already, but RFK Jr. fired all ACIP panelists earlier this year and replaced them with hand-picked anti-vaxxer quacks who align with Kennedy’s anti-medical, anti-science positions on vaccines. Regardless of the nonsense you hear from Kennedy’s grumbling mouth, these are extremely unserious people who have been given a huge responsibility for which they are in no way qualified. ACIP recommendations are Real Importantly, the guidelines determine everything from what private insurers want or should cover, to guiding medical professionals in counseling their patients, and guiding the public in the types of immunization decisions they should make.
ACIP just told all these groups that it is a personal choice whether or not newborns contract hepatitis B and/or ultimately meet an early and painful death. should discuss with their doctors. Doctors may now advise against vaccination within 24 hours of birth.
On Friday morning, the ACIP voted 8-3 to withdraw its previous recommendation that all children in the U.S. be vaccinated against hepatitis B from birth. Instead, the panel supports “individual-based decision-making” to determine when most children should get their first hepatitis B shot. Many outside groups and experts have sharply criticized the ACIP’s about-face, noting that little credible data was presented to justify such a dramatic about-face.
“If that recommendation goes forward, it will be without evidence and will ignore more than 30 years of existing evidence and gamble with the safety of children,” James Campbell, vice chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Infectious Diseases, told Gizmodo.
CDC staff and outside experts have tried. They really did. They explained what this disease is, what it does, how contagious it is and how the mass immunization program that started in the early 1990s has saved thousands of children from infections, long-term complications and ultimately, for some, premature death. Here is a simple diagram that CDC staff presented to ACIP earlier this year on this issue.
How on earth do you look at that map and decide that vaccinations should disappear? Like measles, this is another disease for which we were on the verge of reaching elimination status. 90% of infections in children become chronic infections. About 25% of those infected as children will develop liver cancer or cirrhosis. The mortality rate for both is enormous, even though deaths during the acute phase of the disease are low. In other words, this is a disease that robs infected people of years of their lives, long after the first symptoms have disappeared. Worse, most infections are asymptomatic during the acute phase of infection, meaning many infected people don’t even know it until they develop cancer or cirrhosis.
And ACIP has decided that we need that more of this.
For children born to mothers who test negative for antibodies to hepatitis B, the ACIP now calls for an individualized approach, where “parents should consult with health care providers and decide when and if their child will begin the HBV vaccination series.” And for families who choose not to begin vaccination at birth, the ACIP recommended starting vaccination no earlier than two months of age (the ACIP offered no clear rationale or evidence for this specific cutoff).
This is incredibly stupid. Even if the CDC adopts the recommendation, I’m sure most doctors will still recommend vaccination at birth because they can read the damn chart above as well or better than I can. But that won’t be the case all doctors. What insurance companies will do as a result of this change is anyone’s guess. Some states are already stating that they will go against the change in ACIP and follow the old guidelines.
But then again, it won’t be all of them. I am convinced that a non-zero number of children will become infected with hepatitis B and as a result will die prematurely. I am convinced that some newborns will suffer chronically from the disease as a result.
RFK Jr. harms the health of American newborns. Point. Point, paragraph. Hey, Bill Cassidy: if you want to do something about this, feel free.
Filed Under: acip, anti-vaxxers, cdc, damn hell, health care and human services, hepatitis b, hhs, rfk jr., vaccines
#ACIP #decides #newborns #Hepatitis