By David Bell at Brownstone dot org.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) met recently to discuss, among other topics, the appropriateness of giving Hepatitis B vaccines to all babies in the United States on their first day of life. This practice has been in place for decades, and is in some ways a bit like frontal lobotomies - people just trusted that it was a good idea as otherwise, doctors would not have recommended it. And who wants to argue with health staff on the first day of their baby's life?

The committee recommended that parents delay Hepatitis B vaccination for at least 2 months, a decision that provoked a fascinating reaction from many prominent doctors who see this as putting babies at risk, or at least their own bruised egos and reputation. If the average American does pay enough attention to read and think through this issue, they will probably be confused. They would be right to be. We all should be.

Much of the hype and argument has been around safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. People will never agree on this, as there is too much at stake for the vaccine industry (lots of money) and too many people annoyed about the money made from vaccines during Covid-19.

Resultant extreme and irreconcilable positions range from all vaccines being intrinsically safe and effective in virtually all people (biological magic) to viruses (and Covid) not even existing in the first place. A congenial debate over a beer won't bring reconciliation, as neither side has interest in being congenial. Both claim the other is set on killing humanity.

However, these claims are mostly irrelevant to the Hepatitis B vaccines debate. It is really about logic. As the average person, given a couple of minutes, will figure out.

Hepatitis B is transmitted by direct contact with the blood or body fluids of other people who have a current Hepatitis B virus infection. It causes liver inflammation and can lead to chronic liver scarring (cirrhosis), liver failure, and liver cancer, all of which can kill you.

There are no good treatments to get rid of the virus. It can also remain virtually symptomless and harmless in other people, such that they never know they are infected (but we have good tests).

In some countries it is relatively common, such as some Pacific Island nations and some Asian states. However, it is very uncommon in the general population of the United States, being mostly confined to people who inject drugs or have unprotected sex with multiple partners. It is also transmitted within families, at time of birth from the mother, or (for example) if one infected person is bleeding and a family member attends to their wound while having a skin sore of their own.

So, if your parents and siblings are Hepatitis B negative (it is easy to do a blood test to check), then in the US you are really, really unlikely to become infected until you start shooting up drugs or having lots of sex, or maybe working as a trauma surgeon or a paramedic.

Not many US citizens do any of these things in their first two months, or decade, or so. Pregnant women are also routinely tested for hepatitis B (and fathers can be) so we know, when a baby is born, whether there is any risk from family members.

The other relevant thing to understand is that an infant on its first day of life does not have a mature immune system and relies heavily on antibodies obtained from its mother before birth (and some from breast milk). This is partly why we wait a couple of months or more before giving vaccinations against other infections. You would only want to give at birth, amidst all the stresses and rapid changes the baby is undergoing, if immediate risk of an infection was high, such as if the mother had tested positive.

So, most Americans will never be exposed to the virus in their lifetimes, which is why the vaccine was originally restricted, rationally, to people at high risk su...