(NewsNation) — A key vaccine advisory panel has decided not to go ahead with a vote on whether to delay the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns.

The panel has come under scrutiny after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired previous panel members and replaced them with a group that has a history of being skeptical of vaccines, despite decades of evidence showing that childhood vaccines are safe and effective.

The group advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on U.S. vaccination schedules and earlier on Friday voted to delay giving children a combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chicken pox) vaccine until age four.

Hepatitis B is a severe liver infection that may be acute or chronic. Those with hepatitis B are at increased risk for liver fai

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