An Upper Cumberland Pediatrician said she is against the decision to end the recommendation of babies receiving the Hepatitis B vaccine the day they are born.
The Federal Vaccine Advisory Committee voted to no longer recommend the vaccine at birth last week. Local Pediatrician Dr. Leslie Treece said the recommendation has been supported for decades by all clinicians, including pediatricians. Treece said she really doesn’t understand the committee’s decision. Treece said the decision to end the recommendation will likely have a costly impact.
“There’s been some projections that the current recommendations, as they stand, will lead to about 1,400 (Hepatitis B) cases per year, which will, what I read was a couple of hundred million dollars in healthcare cost for those patients over time,” Treece said.
Treece said Hepatitis B is a virus that attacks the liver and can cause liver failure, liver cancer, and Throsis. Treece said she still recommends that babies receive the vaccine the day they are born.
“In that first year, about 90 percent of those babies get chronically infected, and about one in four of those that are infected die prematurely from liver disease,” Treece said. “And it’s not something curable, and it’s not something that we can fix. So if you prevent it, and that birth dose has been such a great safety net, and you know we talked about those statistics of how much the numbers have come down. And we just really want to protect those babies.”
Treece said in the 1980s, there were about 20,000 cases per year where babies tested positive for Hepatitis B. Treece said when the vaccine was recommended at birth, the number of cases significantly dropped. Treece said now there are only about 20 cases per year because of the vaccine recommendation.
Treece said most people don’t even know that they have Hepatitis B. Treece said about half the babies usually contract hepatitis B during labor and delivery, and at home.
“It can be gotten from a close contact with an infected caregiver, and then I think a lot of the recent talking points that I have heard have said sexual activity and blood, you know, using shared needles, or that sort of thing,” Treece said. “But it can also be gotten from contact with a surface in the home. So if somebody has even the tiniest drop of blood from a scrape or a cut, and you have a baby that has an immune system that is very vulnerable, those first several months, and they can come in contact with that tiny drop of blood like on a washcloth or something really simple and transmit it at the house and not even know it.”
Treece said she recommends people visit their doctor if they are unsure whether they want their baby to receive the vaccine or not. Treece said doctors and pediatricians can help make the best decision for you.
