WASHINGTON – Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, criticized a decision Friday by an influential advisory panel to stop the three-decade-old practice of recommending all newborns get the hepatitis B vaccine, issuing weaker guidance for some children.

Supporters of the hepatitis B vaccinations — including Cassidy, a medical doctor who has extensive experience with the inoculation — say the practice has led to a near elimination of an infection that untreated mothers pass to their babies and that sometimes leads to fatal liver disease later in life.

Since 1991, physicians have given infants their first hepatitis B shot within 24 hours of birth. The babies then receive two more doses that sometimes are administered with other vaccinations administered to children.

A majority of the Advisory Co

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