Health

NPR - Vaccine advisers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are scheduled to meet today and tomorrow to discuss the safety of established vaccines and to potentially introduce a controversial change to the U.S. vaccine schedule. A key vote expected to happen today concerns whether to withdraw the current recommendation that the hepatitis B vaccine be administered to babies at birth.

The recommendation for the Hep B vaccine has been in place for over 30 years, and independent researchers have found that delaying it by even a couple of months could lead to hundreds of preventable deaths a year, NPR’s Pien Huang says. When it comes to the vaccine schedule, the advisers plan to investigate whether vaccines are causing asthma, eczema, and other autoimmune diseases in children, new committee chair Dr. Kirk Milhoan told The Washington Post. However, every vaccine on the schedule has been vetted and is based on the age a child’s immune system can provide the best protection after receiving it, Dr. Sean O’Leary with the American Academy of Pediatrics says.