NEW YORK (AP) — A federal vaccine advisory committee has voted to end a longstanding recommendation that all U.S. babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born. For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses. But U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee voted Friday to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive. For other babies, it will be up to the parents and their doctors to decide if a birth dose is appropriate.
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