GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — A recommendation to change the hepatitis B vaccine sent shockwaves through the medical community and caused confusion.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 8-3 to drop universal recommendations for the hepatitis B birth dose.

All of the members on the panel were appointed by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“I think it’s discouraging to see this vote. It is not an evidence-based or scientifically grounded vote and the vote flies in the face of what has been a successfully established practice for decades,” said Pediatrician and professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School Mark Schleiss.

Schleiss said this panel’s recommendation isn’t a prohibition bu

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