Dr. Richard Pan Condemns Trump Administration Move to End Hepatitis B Birth Vaccine Recommendation
Sacramento, CA — Dr. Richard Pan, pediatrician, and former State Senator, issued the following statement after the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), now led by RFK Jr.’s appointees, met today to consider ending the longstanding recommendation that newborns receive the Hepatitis B vaccine at birth.
“Ending the Hepatitis B birth vaccine puts newborns at risk and ignores decades of clear evidence. The birth dose has reduced infections by 99 percent and prevented more than 90,000 childhood deaths. Reversing this recommendation will harm children and drive up health care costs for families, insurers, and taxpayers.”
Hepatitis B can cause chronic liver failure and liver cancer. The most common transmission occurs from mother to child at birth, and ninety percent of exposed infants develop chronic infection. Because the vaccine must be administered before exposure, the birth dose has been a cornerstone of prevention for more than thirty years.
Removing this recommendation will lead to more chronic liver disease and liver cancer. The United States spends more than $30 billion annually treating chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, with average monthly costs of $3,000 per patient. Initial liver cancer treatment averages more than $60,000. These costs will rise as more infants are infected and develop preventable chronic illness over their lifetimes.
The restructured ACIP has also signaled plans to question the childhood immunization schedule and promote unsupported claims about vaccines causing allergies or autoimmune disease. These assertions contradict decades of research and risk undermining confidence in vaccines that have protected generations of children.
“Parents deserve recommendations grounded in science. When ideology replaces medicine, children suffer. I will continue to stand up for proven vaccines, public health, and accessible, affordable care for every family.”
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Dr. Richard Pan is a pediatrician, educator, small business owner and Former State Senator dedicated to keeping California’s families healthy and safe. In the State Senate, he championed landmark child and school safety laws and lowered the uninsured rate among children by two-thirds – taking on RFK Jr. twice after preventable disease outbreaks. A Harvard-trained pediatrician and UC Davis professor, he has cared for underserved children, trained future doctors and co-founded Healthy Kids Healthy Future, providing health coverage to more than 65,000 kids.
Known for flipping his state legislative seat from Red to Blue, Dr. Pan is a proven fighter who brings people together to get results — expanding access to health care, strengthening schools, and improving public safety. A husband, father, and small business owner, he understands the challenges families face and is running for Congress to make government work for people again, so every child and family in California has the chance to succeed.
