The hepatitis B birth dose
And an unusual note: federal advice changed in December 2025.
Hepatitis B passed from mother to baby at birth becomes a lifelong chronic infection in the great majority of cases. Vaccination at birth prevents this. According to CDC, the vaccine alone is about 75% effective at preventing transmission and vaccine plus immune globulin about 94% effective. The American Academy of Pediatrics policy has been that all infants of 2,000 g or more receive the vaccine within 24 hours of birth.
This area is currently unsettledIn December 2025 the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to end the universal birth-dose recommendation, restricting it to infants of mothers who are hepatitis B positive or of unknown status, and making it a shared decision otherwise. The American Academy of Pediatrics publicly rejected the change and states it continues to recommend the universal birth dose. This tool reports the disagreement rather than resolving it, and what your hospital offers may depend on which body it follows. Ask.
Note that maternal testing is not a complete safeguard on its own: status can change during pregnancy, and results are sometimes not available at delivery.
Where this comes from:
245. American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, Committee on Fetus and Newborn. Elimination of perinatal hepatitis B: providing the first vaccine dose within 24 hours of birth. Pediatrics. 2017;140(3):e20171870.
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