Public Health Undermined: NCL Slams ACIP’s Dangerous Vaccine Reversal

Media Contact: Lisa McDonald, Vice President of Communications, 202-207-2829  

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League (NCL) is deeply concerned by today’s vote from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to eliminate the long-standing recommendation that all newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine at birth.   

“We all want to protect our children.  But this reversal disregards decades of scientific evidence, proven public health outcomes, and the consensus of the nation’s leading medical experts,” said NCL’s Senior Director of Health Policy Lisa Bercu. “Rolling back this recommendation puts infants at unnecessary and avoidable risk. As several ACIP members warned, the consequences of today’s decision will be measured in preventable childhood infections and puts them at long– term risk of liver cancer.”  

NCL is particularly troubled that the vote appears to be influenced by fringe skepticism rather than by evidence-based medicine. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long promoted scientifically discredited anti-vaccine claims and has financially benefited from organizations that amplify this misinformation, raising serious concerns about his credibility and motives on public health issues. The bottom line is consumers deserve guidance grounded in science—not ideology.  

“This move also risks sowing confusion among parents and undermining confidence in a vaccine that has been proven safe, effective, and vital for more than three decades,” Bercu continued. “At a time when the nation is already combating outbreaks of preventable diseases, weakening a cornerstone of childhood immunization sends exactly the wrong message.” 

NCL urges the acting CDC Director to carefully weigh this decision, reaffirm the agency’s principles of relying on scientific evidence, and maintain the universal recommendation that has protected generations of children.  

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)       

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.