Hepatitis B A Deadly Jolt

Warning: New Hepatitis Vaccine Recs Can Devastate Newborn's Health

The newly released 2002 immunization schedule encourages the routine use of hepatitis B vaccine for all infants before hospital discharge to

• Safeguard against maternal hepatitis B testing errors and test reporting failures
  
• Protect neonates discharged to households in which hepatitis B chronic carriers other than the mother may reside
  
• Enhance the completion of the childhood immunization series

The annual "Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule" of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is issued in January of each year.

Pediatrics Vol. 109 No. 1 January 2002, pp. 162