HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania officials on Friday urged parents and health care providers to continue vaccinating newborns against hepatitis B, pushing back against a vote by a federal advisory committee they say has created unnecessary confusion.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approved changes Friday that state leaders said could lead some families to question the value of administering the hepatitis B vaccine at birth.

State officials said decades of data show that vaccinating newborns nearly eliminated the virus among young children in Pa. and remains the most reliable way to protect infants from a potentially deadly disease.

"The scientific evidence is clear that vaccination of newborns against

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