BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Vermont will continue recommending hepatitis B vaccines for all newborns despite a CDC advisory panel vote Friday to roll back federal recommendations.

For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against hepatitis B within 24 hours after birth. Those shots are widely considered to be a public health success, causing infections to fall 99 percent since they were introduced in 1991, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

But U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee voted 8-3 Friday to recommend it at birth only for babies whose mothers test positive. For all others, it will be up to the parents and doctors.

“The language offers flexibility, access, coverage at any time — I vote yes,” said Dr. Hillary Blackburn ow

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