CDC and Public Health

At a contentious Dec. meeting, the HHS‑appointed Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 8–3 to end the universal hepatitis B birth‑dose—limiting routine immediate vaccination to infants of HBV‑positive mothers and leaving other cases to clinician‑parent decision‑making—and separately voted 6–4‑1 to recommend post‑vaccination antibody testing to identify infants who might require fewer than three doses. The recommendations, which must be approved by acting CDC director Jim O’Neill, drew sharp criticism from pediatric and infectious‑disease experts and public‑health groups who warn the change could lead to hundreds or thousands more infant infections given screening gaps and the vaccine’s decades‑long role in nearly eliminating pediatric hepatitis B.

The CDC said a Michigan man who received a kidney in Ohio in December 2024 died in February from transplant-associated rabies, tracing the donor’s infection to a skunk scratch in Idaho that likely involved a silver‑haired bat variant. Three corneal tissue recipients had grafts removed, received rabies treatment and remain asymptomatic, while officials notified 370 potential contacts and recommended post‑exposure procedures for 46. The CDC noted rabies is not part of routine donor testing due to its rarity and complexity, calling this the fourth documented U.S. transplant-transmitted rabies case since 1978.