Author: HepB United

We reaffirm that the hepatitis B vaccine, including the birth dose, is safe and saves lives. Over 40 years of extensive global research show a strong safety record and clear benefits to vaccinating against hepatitis B at birth. Thanks to the long-standing recommendation (1991-2025) for universal hepatitis B birth dose and completion of the full, three-dose hepatitis B vaccine series, hepatitis B transmission among U.S. children has been nearly eliminated, even in areas where the virus was once endemic – an undeniable achievement and a true public health success story that should be celebrated.

We continue to stand firmly with the established science, longstanding clinical guidelines by numerous medical societies domestically and globally, and the real-world successes that have significantly reduced hepatitis B infections and deaths. Our organizations remain committed to ensuring access to the birth dose and the full 3-dose hepatitis B vaccine series, promoting evidence-based best practices, and supporting the health of every community we serve.

Routine universal hepatitis B birth dose and completion of the full 3-dose vaccination remain essential to sustaining the progress we have made in preventing a virus that can cause lifelong infection and liver cancer. As hepatitis B continues to pose a serious health threat, maintaining strong birth-dose coverage is critical to protecting infants from the earliest moments of life and preventing future disease. Our organizations will continue working together to uphold this proven intervention and to strengthen the health and safety of each community we serve.

Signed Organizations (as of 12/5):
Hep B United
Hepatitis B Foundation
Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Centers (AAPCHO)
National Task Force on Hepatitis B
Montefiore Starfish
Hep Free Hawaii
Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center

ADD YOUR ORGANIZATION HERE

The deadline to sign on is 5:00pm ET on Friday, December 12th. 

What does today’s vote mean?

Today, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) completed two significant votes that will impact the U.S. childhood immunization schedule.

First, ACIP voted to remove the well-established recommendation in place since 1991 to vaccinate all babies at birth against hepatitis B, regardless of the mother’s status. It is now officially recommended that only babies born to mothers living with hepatitis B should receive the hepatitis B birth dose, which moves the U.S. from universal birth dose to a risk-based recommendation. ACIP suggests that babies born to mothers who do not have hepatitis B should begin the hepatitis B vaccine series not before 2 months of age.

Secondly, ACIP voted to officially reduce the number of hepatitis B doses that a baby should receive. The vote suggests that only 1 dose of the hepatitis B vaccine is needed, which is a deviation from the standard 3-dose vaccine series needed for full protection against the virus. The vote also suggests that babies should blood draws to determine if additional doses of the vaccine are needed after completing the first dose. 

It is imperative to note that while ACIP’s vote removes the previous longstanding recommendation, all parents can continue to vaccinate their newborns at birth using the 3-dose series of the hepatitis B vaccine if they wish (no blood draw is needed). 

What does this mean for insurance?

Hepatitis B vaccines will continue to be covered for anyone who wants the vaccine under the Vaccine for Children’s Program, and through Medicaid. America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) have committed to maintaining coverage of all childhood vaccines, including the hepatitis B vaccine, throughout 2026 despite any changes ACIP has made. 

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is meeting on December 4th and 5th to deliberate on childhood vaccine recommendations, including the universal hepatitis B birth dose recommendation. 

The oral comment and written comment portals are now open to provide valuable insight on the need to maintain the universal hepatitis B birth dose – and we need you to add your voice.

How to Take Action:

Leave a written comment: 

• We have put together ​​templates​ that you can use to submit written comments. 
• Please note that all comments must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. EST on Nov. 24, 2025

Provide oral comment using our template:

• Register here to request a time slot.
• Registration closes at 11:59 p.m. EST on Nov. 24, 2025.  

After the September ACIP discussion on hepatitis B, it is clear that the Committee will likely remove the universal hepatitis B birth dose recommendation – a recommendation that has protected thousands of children from liver cancer for over 30 years.

Failure by the Committee to maintain universal hepatitis B birth dose vaccination is a missed opportunity to protect the most vulnerable from a lifelong infection, and will be detrimental to the elimination of viral hepatitis inequities in the United States. 

Please remember that every voice counts. While we encourage you to use our templates, be sure to add your own voice to the final submission! For questions or more information, please reach out to Michaela.Jackson@hepb.org.

Hep B United are hosting a virtual mini-summit on October 29–30. This year’s theme is “Hepatitis B Family Potluck”. The Summit runs from 12:00 pm ET to 3:30 PM ET on both days. Our aim with this Summit is to bring together HBU partners, advocates, and community leaders to connect, and collaborate with one another and provide a space to exchange successes and challenges while celebrating the diversity and richness of the communities we serve. 

Registration has ended.

After the Sept. 18-19 Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) discussion on the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose and decision to table the vote, we remain extremely concerned about the intention of ACIP to revisit and alter this well-established universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendation. Today’s decision avoids, at least temporarily, interruptions toward the elimination of hepatitis B in the U.S. We stand firmly in the knowledge that this recommendation should not be changed. 

The success of the hepatitis B vaccine is backed by 40 years of evidence. With 1 billion doses administered globally, and a reduction of 99% in acute infections in children 19 and younger in the U.S., the benefits of the vaccine are irrefutable. Weakening the birth dose recommendation would risk reversing decades of progress and undermines public confidence in a vaccine that prevents a leading cause of liver cancer. 

ACIP’s delay in reconsidering the birth dose vaccination provides our organizations and others the opportunity to educate key stakeholders on the importance of the birth dose to infants, their families, and public health. We call upon ACIP to reestablish the CDC’s hepatitis B workgroup for any future reviews of the scientific evidence regarding the hepatitis B vaccine, including the birth dose, and request full transparency as to the processes and frameworks used to evaluate potential alterations to recommendations. The Evidence-to-Recommendation (EtR) Framework is one of our best tools in providing unbiased, transparent data. ACIP workgroups should use EtR for every vaccine under consideration. To be clear: we do not agree with the need to revisit the universal hepatitis B birth dose recommendation. However, all studies used to justify any changes to vaccine recommendations should be held to the highest scientific standards possible. 

Rigorous scientific evidence must inform all vaccine recommendations. Anything less leads to confusion and causes opportunities for those most vulnerable to be missed. We thank our CDC colleagues for presenting the most rigorous data available, and the ACIP liaison members for calling for strong, evidence-based recommendations and a return to the standard EtR Framework that is expected of the ACIP. 

Signed Organizations: 

Hepatitis B Foundation 

American Academy of Pediatrics 

American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

American Liver Foundation 

Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum

Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations

Center for Disease Analysis Foundation

Global Liver Institute 

Immunize.org

NASTAD 

National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable Treatment Access Group

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is hosting an incredibly significant meeting on September 18 and 19. During this meeting, they will discuss the potential removal of the longstanding hepatitis B birth dose vaccine recommendation. If this happens, it will be the first time in modern history that ACIP uses their platform to blatantly disregard decades worth of scientific evidence in favor of enacting political agendas. 

The oral comments and written comment portal are now open to provide valuable insight on the need to maintain the universal hepatitis B birth dose. 

We strongly encourage all partners to use our updated template and guide to create and submit comments. The Committee will be discussing several other vaccine recommendations, so it is very important that hepatitis B is well represented. 

Here’s how to take action: 

Leave a written comment: We have put together templates that you can use to submit written comments.

Please note that all comments must be submitted by 11:59 pm EDT on September 13, 2025.

Provide oral comment using our template:

Register here to request a time slot: https://www2.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/acip_publiccomment.asp. 

Registration closes at 11:59pm EDT on September 13, 2025.   

Post your support of the hepatitis B vaccine on social media.

Misinformation about the hepatitis B vaccine and its importance is at an all-time high. Use our social media toolkit to share the facts about the universal birth dose. 

 Tell Congress that eliminating the hepatitis B birth dose recommendation is unacceptable. 

The American Liver Foundation has created an action alert to share the importance of the birth dose with congress. Use their form to reach out to your congress member, and encourage them to support the birth dose. 

After the June ACIP discussion on hepatitis B and several media conversations with the ACIP Chair and Secretary Kennedy, it is highly likely that the Committee will remove the universal hepatitis B birth dose recommendation – a recommendation that has protected thousands of children from liver cancer for over 30 years. Failure by the Committee to maintain universal hepatitis B birth dose vaccination is a missed opportunity to stem the tide of spikes in hepatitis B infections across the country and will be detrimental to the elimination of viral hepatitis inequities in the United States. 

Please remember that every very voice counts. For questions or more information, please reach out to Michaela.Jackson@hepb.org.

Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed its fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) appropriations bill. The bill included several items that the Hepatitis B Foundation advocated for, including protections for the National Perinatal Hepatitis B Surveillance Program and the Vaccines for Children Program, and federal efforts to aid and increase the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) universal adult hepatitis B screening and vaccination recommendations. The bill maintains FY25 funding levels at the CDC – including the Division of Viral Hepatitis – while increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $400 million and maintaining the agency’s structure. This bipartisan bill is a rare win for public health advocates and those combatting infectious disease across the country. It rejects the Administration’s recent requests to cut the CDC by nearly 50% and the NIH by 40% and rejects the Administration’s attempt to reduce the effectiveness of agencies like the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and several CDC infectious disease branches by moving them to a new agency named the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). While there is still a long road before the FY26 budget is passed – including contending with a House bill that will likely have lower funding levels – the Senate coming out in support of the CDC and NIH is an important first step and shows that there is bipartisan support in pushing back on the Administration’s attacks on public health.

The hepatitis B vaccine has been a global game-changer, saving millions of lives over the past four decades. Safe, effective and groundbreaking as the world’s first anti-cancer vaccine, it protects against hepatitis B, the leading cause of liver cancer.

Vaccines, including the hepatitis B vaccine, are held to the highest safety standards and remain one of the most effective tools in protecting public health. As we move forward, the Hepatitis B Foundation is committed to providing reliable, evidence-based information and advocating for universal access to this lifesaving vaccine.  To support these efforts, please use the following media toolkit as a reference to help spread awareness and educate your community about the importance of hepatitis B prevention. Together, we can protect future generations from this preventable virus.

The Congressional Hepatitis Caucus, co-chaired by Rep. Nydia Velazquez and Hank Johnson, is introducing a resolution recognizing July 28, 2025 as World Hepatitis Day. World Hepatitis Day is commemorated each year by the World Health Organization (WHO) and by governments, organizations, and advocates in countries all over the world. 

This year, we encourage you all to join the Hepatitis B Foundation in being an endorsing organization to the resolution! Please use this link to sign your organization on to the resolution by COB on Thursday, July 24.You can view the resolution via the link as well.   Please reach out to michaela.jackson@hepb.org with any questions. We hope you will join us! 

Doylestown, Pa., November 1, 2023 – Through its annual Mini-Grant Awards program, Hep B United this year has distributed $63,000 in grants to seven organizations across the country. Hep B United is proud to have given out more than $620,000 in funding over the 10 years of the Mini-Grants program. The program is designed to help coalition partners build capacity and test innovative strategies to improve hepatitis B vaccination, screening and linkage to care activities in highly impacted communities. It is supported in part using funds from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Cooperative Agreement (award #5NU51PS005196-02). Read more about this year’s recipients below. 

Asian American Community Services (AACS), Columbus, Ohio – AACS will provide hepatitis B awareness, education, screening, immunization and linkage to care to the Asian-born and African-born communities in Central Ohio by identifying and developing systems and strategies to educate communities and providers and implement new universal adult hepatitis B vaccination recommendations. 

African Family Health Organization (AFAHO), Philadelphia – AFAHO will conduct focus groups in their community to determine the barriers and best practices to raise hep b awareness. From there, they will hold a series of health education workshops and screenings, and connect screened individuals to vaccination or care. 

HOPE Clinic, Houston – HOPE Clinic will create educational materials, handouts and implement a class to provide patients, community and family members more information about hepatitis B. HOPE Clinic will also hold focus groups for those living with or impacted by hepatitis B to learn about the challenges they face.  

Drexel Hope, Philadelphia – Drexel Hope will increase awareness, screening, prevention, and education to reduce transmission and health-related complications of hepatitis B with a focus on PWUDs. Program leaders will incorporate screening, phlebotomy services, vaccination, patient navigation, harm-reduction education and data collection as part of their mobile van. 

Hepatitis B Initiative of D.C. (HBI-DC), Washington, D.C. – HBI-DC will increase awareness, screening, prevention, and education to reduce hepatitis B-related health disparities in D.C., Maryland and Virginia by conducting outreach to providers in the area to ensure they have the latest information, and by conducting screening events and linking individuals to appropriate care. 

Korean Community Services (KCS), New York – KCS’s will increase access to educational and medical resources within the local Korean community and increase awareness and screening for hepatitis B and the care resources available to individuals. In addition to these efforts, KCS is creating a brand-new set of educational materials which will be disseminated in multiple languages. 

SF Hep B Free – Bay Area, San Francisco – SF Hep B Free – Bay Area is implementing Under the Mango Tree which will work towards reducing the burden of hepatitis B and liver cancer mortality, improve data collection, increase screening and vaccination, and provide resources and linkage to care for Pacific Islanders in the region. This will be done with an emphasis on cultural activities like Ti Leaf weaving; helping engage the community and creating a safe space for people to learn about hepatitis B. 

We wish all of our mini-grantees great luck with their projects! 

About Hepatitis B: Hepatitis B is one of the world’s most common infections and the primary cause of liver cancer, which is the second-leading cause of cancer death in the world. More than 296 million people are chronically infected, and almost 1 million people die each year from hepatitis B-related liver failure and liver cancer. In the U.S., up to 2.4 million are chronically infected but most don’t know it. The hepatitis B virus is preventable and treatable, there is still no complete cure for this deadly liver infection. 

About Hep B United: Hep B United is a national coalition dedicated to eliminating hepatitis B and the health disparities and inequities associated with hepatitis B and hepatitis delta among highly impacted communities across the United States by increasing awareness, screening, vaccination, and linkage to care. To learn more, visit www.hepbunited.org.  

About the Hepatitis B Foundation: The Hepatitis B Foundation is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization solely dedicated to finding a cure for hepatitis B and improving the quality of life for those affected worldwide through research, education and patient advocacy. To learn more, visit www.hepb.org, read our blog at hepb.org/blog, follow us on Twitter @HepBFoundation, find us on Facebook at facebook.com/hepbfoundation or call 215-489-4900. 

About the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organization: The Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organization (AAPCHO) is a national association of community health organizations dedicated to promoting advocacy, collaboration, and leadership that improves the health status and access of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islanders in the United States. To learn more, visit www.aapcho.org. 

# # # 

National partners convene in Washington, D.C., for 11th Annual Summit.

Doylestown, Pa., July 28, 2023 – Hep B United, a national coalition established by the Hepatitis B Foundation and the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO) to address the epidemic of hepatitis B, hosted its 11th annual summit in Washington, D.C., July 24-25. The summit brought together nearly 100 community leaders, advocates, clinicians, federal partners and people living with hepatitis B to discuss strategies and challenges towards eliminating hepatitis B in the U.S.

At the Summit, participants discussed innovative local and national programs to prevent, diagnose and treat hepatitis B. Discussions focused on strategies to disseminate and implement the new universal adult hepatitis B testing and vaccination recommendations, while also ensuring that we continue to work towards addressing hepatitis B and liver cancer related health disparities among disproportionately impacted communities. Summit participants identified critical needs for improving the hepatitis B care cascade in the U.S. This includes the need for point-of-care testing for hepatitis B, increased access to vaccine, capacity building and support for disseminating and publishing community-based data, and enhanced training and support for patient navigators. The Summit also featured people living with hepatitis B, to discuss the role of storytelling in increasing public awareness and combatting stigma and discrimination.



Photo by Amy Trang, PhD, MEd, Hep B United

Importantly, the Summit provided an opportunity to highlight the critical role that people with lived experience play as we strive to eliminate hepatitis B. Participants discussed a powerful new Patient Declaration published in the Journal of Viral Hepatitis by co-authors Dr. Su Wang, Director of the Center for Asian Health at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, and Mr. Danjuma Adda, President of the World Hepatitis Alliance.

“People living with hepatitis B deserve a voice at the table and should be included in clinical and research discussions that impact their lives,” Dr. Wang said.

Partners in the room concluded that expanded and simplified hepatitis B treatment guidelines are needed and decisionmakers must integrate patient preferences and quality of life assessment into the medical management of hepatitis B.

Aligning with the Patient Declaration, the Hepatitis B Foundation released a video to highlight some of the patients’ demands.

At the end of the two-day meeting, Hep B United partners hosted an awareness event in front of the White House, carrying signs such as “We Are Fighting 4 Our Lives” and “Hep B Can’t Wait.”

“This was an ideal way to commemorate World Hepatitis Day, and an opportunity to spotlight the needs of people living with hepatitis B, and generate action towards prioritization hepatitis B, hepatitis D and liver cancer as urgent health priorities,” stated Dr. Chari Cohen, President of the Hepatitis B Foundation.

World Hepatitis Day is observed each year on July 28. That is the birthday of Dr. Baruch Blumberg, Nobel Laureate who discovered the hepatitis B virus and developed the first vaccine.

About hepatitis B: The world’s most common serious liver infection, chronic hepatitis B, is caused by a virus that attacks and injures the liver. Almost 300 million people worldwide and 2.4 million people in the U.S. have chronic hepatitis B. Each year up to 1 million people die from hepatitis B worldwide, even though it is preventable and treatable. If untreated, hepatitis B can lead to liver cancer, which is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide.

About Hep B United: Hep B United is a nationwide coalition with partners in 37 cities, 29 states and Washington, D.C. The coalition is co-led by the Hepatitis B Foundation and the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO). Hep B United is dedicated to reducing the health disparities associated with hepatitis B by building the capacity of community coalitions to increase hepatitis B education, vaccination, testing and linkage to care in a culturally and linguistically responsive manner. The coalition focuses on communities disparately impacted, including Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, African Immigrants and persons who inject drugs. It promotes cross-sector partnerships between community organizations, health departments and Federally Qualified Health Centers, and has been building the capacity of multi-sectoral community coalitions to address hepatitis B in a nationally coordinated manner. The Hep B United Summit is the largest convening of hepatitis B leaders from community coalitions, national nonprofit organizations, individuals and family members affected by hepatitis B, and public health agencies in the U.S.