Hepatitis B Vaccination Rates in Newborns Drop Precipitously
Vaccinations in newborn infants against the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) have declined by more than 10 percentage points in just two years, from a peak of 83.5% in 2023 to 73.2% in 2025 (Rothman et al., 2026).
For those working in public health, this raises serious concerns about efforts to eliminate Hepatitis B transmission worldwide, as HBV can be transmitted with relative ease in people who are unvaccinated through blood and bodily fluids, including through sexual encounters, the sharing of syringes in Persons Who Use Drugs (PWUDs), and through close contact with shared surfaces as HBV can survive for up to a week outside the body (Rosen, 2025).
This rapid decline in vaccination among newborns follows a long trend of decreasing confidence in childhood vaccination requirements, specifically, and in vaccine science, generally. A 2024 Gallup poll found that just 40% of Americans responded that it was “Extremely Important” that parents vaccinate their children, down from 64% in 2001. More concerning was the precipitous decline in those who responded that it was “Extremely to Very Important” from 94% in 2001 to just 69% in 2024 (Figure 1, Jones, 2024).
Figure 1 - Americans Are Less Likely to Say It Is Important for Parents to Have Their Children Vaccinated
Source: Jones, 2024
While declines occurred across the political spectrum, respondents who self-identified as Republicans or Republican-Leaning Independents accounted for the significant decline in the perception of vaccination importance, decreasing from 62% of those respondents saying that it was “Extremely Important” in 2001 to just 26% in 2024. This is compared to 66% of Democrats and Democrat-Leaning Independents responding this way in 2001, and 63% in 2024 (Figures 2 & 3, Jones, 2024).
Figure 2 - Republicans and Republican-Leaning Independents Account for the Decline in Perceived Importance of Childhood Vaccinations
Source: Jones, 2024
Figure 3 - Importance of Parents Having Their Children Vaccinated, by Political Party Identification and Leaning
Source: Jones, 2024
These changes in public perception of vaccines come after a nearly-three-decade campaign on the parts of anti-vaccination activists and influencers to sow distrust in and fear of vaccines, themselves, as well as the science behind vaccinations, the development and testing/trial process, and the vaccine manufacturers, themselves.
A 2021 study released by the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that just 12 people were responsible from the bulk of misleading claims and outright lies about COVID-19 vaccines across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, including:
Dr. Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician who regularly peddles supplements and “wellness” products
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the current Secretary of Health and Human Services in the United States
Ty & Charlene Bollinger, who promoted a conspiracy theory that Bill Gates planned to inject microchips into everyone using COVID-19 vaccines
Dr. Sherry Tenpenny, an osteopathic physician who regularly makes false claims about vaccine safety and efficacy
Rizza Islam, who has regularly opposed vaccines to his audience of primarily Black people
Dr. Rashid Buttar, an osteopathic physician who actively spread disinformation that the COVID-19 vaccine increased susceptibility to HIV
Erin Elizabeth, the romantic partner of Dr. Mercola who own and operates the website “Health Nut News”
Sayer Ji, owner and operator of “GreenMedInfo.org”
Kelly Brogan, the romantic partner of Sayer Ji
Christiane Northrup, an obstetrician and gynecologist who has used her position as a medical authority to claim that the COVID-19 vaccine caused an “800% increase in chronic illnesses”
Ben Tapper, a chiropractor
Kevin Jenkins, who has posited that vaccines are a conspiracy among elites to eliminate Black people (Center for Countering Digital Hate, 2021)
Secretary Kennedy, who has been working to spread disinformation about vaccines since 1990s, succeeded in convincing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to adopt an “individual-based decision-making” approach to HBV vaccinations among infants. This decision, reached in December of 2025, included the following statement:
“Individual-based decision-making, referred to on the CDC immunization schedule as shared clinical decision-making, means that parents and health care providers should consider vaccine benefits, vaccine risks, and infection risks, and that parents consult with their health care provider and decide when or if their child will begin the hepatitis B vaccine series. Parents and health care providers should consider whether there are infection risks such as a household member who has hepatitis B or frequent contact with persons who have emigrated from areas where hepatitis B is common” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2025).
However, a recent ruling from a federal judge in the U.S. District Court of the District of Massachusetts issued a stay that would:
Temporarily block Kennedy’s appointment of 13 new members to the highly influential Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
Block all votes of the new constituted ACIP
Prevent the current ACIP from meeting until the case is resolved, saying that ACIP “…as currently constituted” cannot meet (Haelle, 2026).
This ruling also means that any recommendations and federal policy changes made by the currently constituted ACIP since May 2025 are undone (Haelle, 2026).
