The gentlebirth.org website is provided courtesy of
Ronnie Falcao, LM MS, a homebirth midwife in Mountain View, CA

Newborn Hepatitis B Vaccine

See also:

• Vaccinations

Subsections on this page:

• Resources
• About Avoiding HepB Vaccine
• Parents Hassled About Declining HepB Vaccine
• HepB Vaccine Administration Without Parental Consent

Resources

DELAYED ACQUISITION OF NEONATAL REFLEXES IN NEWBORN PRIMATES RECEIVING A THIMEROSAL-CONTAINING HEPATITIS B
VACCINE: INFLUENCE OF GESTATIONAL AGE AND BIRTH WEIGHT
Laura Hewitson et al.
Neurotoxicology 2009 in press

Newborn hepatitis B vaccination efficacy confirmed
A systematic review evaluates the effects of hepatitis B vaccine and immunoglobulin in newborns born to hepatitis B-positive women.

Effect of hepatitis B immunisation in newborn infants of mothers positive for hepatitis B surface antigen: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Lee C, Gong Y, Brok J, Boxall EH, Gluud C.
BMJ. 2006 Feb 11;332(7537):328-36.

CONCLUSION: Hepatitis B vaccine, hepatitis B immunoglobulin, and vaccine plus immunoglobulin prevent hepatitis B occurrence in newborn infants of mothers positive for hepatitis B surface antigen.

Notice to Readers: Update: Expanded Availability of Thimerosal Preservative-Free Hepatitis B Vaccine
July 21, 2000 / 49(28);642,651

If you do choose to have your baby vaccinated at two to six months of age, make sure to demand a thimerosal-free type; they should not be readily available, and this is an easy way of reducing your child's exposure to mercury.

FLASH!!!    Routine vaccination of newborns with HepB is no longer recommended!

Primary Care Clinical Practice Guidlines from UCSF, summarizing recent recomendations from the Joint Statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the United States Public Health Service (PHS) [July 7, 1999]

Clinicians and parents can take advantage of the flexibility within the existing schedule for infants born to Hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg)-negative women to postpone the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine from birth until two to six months of age when the infant is considerably larger.

For infants born to hepatitis B surface antigen (Hbs-Ag)-negative women, that the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine be given at two to six months of age when the infant is larger. This is a shift in the timing previously recommended by the AAFP, AAP, and ACIP.

A Skirmish Over the Hepatitis B Vaccination - New Jersey parents fight mandatory vaccination

US Wants Mercury Out of Vaccines

In addition, the American Academy of Pediatrics is preparing its own precautionary recommendation: That if new mothers are proven to be free of the liver virus hepatitis B, their newborns can safely postpone getting a hepatitis B vaccine until they're a few months older. When babies are older and bigger, the mercury amounts are too small to have an effect, explained Dr. Jon Abramson of Wake Forest University, the academy's infectious disease chairman.

Report detailing increase in neurological problems observed by a school nurse in older children who were among the first to receive the hepatitis B vaccine as newborns.

Finally, as of May, 1999, Congressional hearings have been initiated to investigate the vaccine industry management of the hepatitis B vaccine.  You can read Michael Belkin's written testimony to Congress.

Press Release - "The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) released figures this week which show that the number of hepatitis B vaccine-associated serious adverse event and death reports in American children under the age of 14 outnumber the reported cases of hepatitis B disease in that age group."

Mindless Vaccination Bureaucracy - written by her father, Michael Belkin

My daughter Lyla Rose Belkin died on September 16, 1998 at the age of five weeks, shortly after receiving a Hepatitis B vaccine booster shot.

Government-mandated - Thalidomide for babies? - an article by Michael Belkin about the dangers of the vaccine, and the widespread abuse of governmental power in mandating administration to newborns.

Parents must educate themselves on these important matters and cannot rely on government (or even their gullible doctors) for answers. The government has abused its authority by mandating this risky and useless vaccine for helpless babies who can't object.

TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL BELKIN BEFORE THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON IMMUNIZATION PRACTICES --
CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION --  February 17, 1999 -- Atlanta Georgia
from the Web pages of the NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER

SECOND TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL BELKIN BEFORE THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON IMMUNIZATION PRACTICES -- CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION -- February 18, 1999 -- Atlanta Georgia
from the Web pages of the NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER

Stanford University Med. School does not recommend routine newborn vaccination for Hepatitis B.

ABC's 20/20 did a show (Jan., 1999) - Who’s Calling the Shots?  Critics Say Required Hepatitis B Vaccine Not Safe for Everyone

Hepatitis B Vaccine  from theWeb pages of Concerned Parents for Vaccine Safety - Educate before you Vaccinate!

Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)

Hepatitis B vaccine and autoimmune disorders - a doctor describes efforts to clarify the connection

[I]t is clearly established that this vaccine (or the virus infection istself) may cause MS like symptom

Hair Loss and Hep B Vaccine

Of the 60 cases, 46 had received hepatitis B vaccines.

Institute of Medicine Review of Vaccine Adverse Events

ADVERSE EVENTS TEMPORALLY ASSOCIATED WITH IMMUNIZING AGENTS - 1991 REPORT from the Health Canada site - Vaccine Associated Adverse Events (VAAE) - with lots of links to international sites.

World Health Organization Press Release - 2 October 1998
NO SCIENTIFIC JUSTIFICATION TO SUSPEND HEPATITIS B IMMUNIZATION
 "On 1 October 1998, the French Ministry of Health announced a decision to suspend routine HB immunization of adolescents in French schools, while continuing the immunization of infants and high risk adults."

About Avoiding HepB Vaccine

Make sure you have a birth plan and tell everyone.  Also make absolutely sure that you or your husband are with the baby at ALL times.  If they need to take the baby to the nursery for some reason have your husband go with the baby.  Don't let the little one out of your sight.

Truly, it boggles the mind that they keep telling you that you shouldn't give vaccinations when your baby is sick or might be sick, yet they're trying to give a ROUTINE vaccination while your baby is hospitalized.  What are they thinking?!?  The whole reason for having the baby hospitalized is that the baby is unstable and requires observation because they "might be sick".  This seems like a really bad time to be giving a vaccination.  If the hospital staff hassle you about declining the HepB vaccination, you can tell them you're going to wait until your baby is stable, no less than 2 weeks after birth.

A Nurse Reports on Seizures Caused by HepB Vaccine

Night before last I was working on our mother/baby unit.  Until recently, part of our routine admission procedures was to administer, with "informed consent", the Hepatitis B vaccine to newborns.  We have since discontinued this practice.  Thimerosol, a mercury derivative and a preservative, has been causing seizures in some babies that receive the vaccine.  All  three of my children have received it!   They are past the window where it would cause this problem but I feel bad for my kids and angry that this was the standard of care for the past few years, giving healthy babies something that could cause them seizures!

I also know how people who choose not to vaccinate their kids get hassled by HCPs about how they are harming their kids by NOT vaccinating their kids.  I would recommend using this example of how the Hepatitis B vaccine is only now being administered to babies who are at high risk for contracting the disease instead of routinely since it's preservative, thimerosol, has been found to cause seizures in some babies.  I plan to do a little more research into what the medical literature has to say about it and will first focus on the AAP and AFAR websites.  I'll share my findings with you. And you can bet I'll be asking a lot more questions at the next check up. 

Hepatitis B is very contagious and is easily spread through saliva.  If your baby is going to be in daycare or in any situation where young babies may be sharing their saliva with their playmates, it might make sense to vaccinate your baby a few weeks before they enter daycare.  (Other risk factors include having any family member who is a carrier of Hepatitis B.)

Otherwise, the benefits are possibly not worth the risk.  There have been increasing reports of serious adverse events following Hepatitis B vaccination, including hair loss, ophthalmological problems, diabetes, severe allergic reaction, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).  Many people believe that it is unwise to administer any vaccinations to a newborn because of the very immature immune system and recommend waiting until the baby is three months old and begins receiving other routine vaccinations.

This is something I and a few of my midwife friends have opted out of. Since most of my doula practice is in a hospital run program, this was a "suggestion" (read coercive push) for all the doulas. I have made my stand based on information contained below.

According to J. Barthelow Classen, M.D., a 1988 hepatitis-B vaccination program in New Zealand generated a 60 percent increase in Type-1diabetes in the recipients. In the under-20 age group the incidence of Type-1diabetes prior to the vaccination campaign (i.e., from 1982-1987) was 11.2/100,000 person years, while the incidence after the vaccination campaign(1989-1991) was 18.2/100,000 person years. In Classen's view, the hepatitis B and other vaccines induce Type-1 diabetes through the release of interferons (interferons have already been implicated in the causation of autoimmunity and of Type-1 diabetes). Classen also observes that the package inserts for the various hepatitis-B vaccines on the market recognize that they cause several autoimmune diseases, and the FDA itself has admitted that they cause alopecia (baldness) of autoimmune origin. (38)

Like most viral diseases, hepatitis B has no effective treatment. Symptoms include loss of appetite, extreme tiredness, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, and a vague feeling of oncoming illness. Over half the people infected with HBV never develop symptoms and would never know they had it unless they underwent a blood test. In those who develop acute HBV infection, the disease runs its course within one year in 95% of cases, according to one study. The symptoms can remain mild or progressively worsen. In 1990 about 800 Americans died a hepatitis B-related death.

The risk of acute HBV infection developing into chronic liver disease is exaggerated, according to several studies referenced in the German journal, Infection 20 (1992, No.4). In this issue, A. Roumeliotow and G. Papaevangelou of the Centre for Viral Hepatitis in Athens, Greece, published their third study showing that acute hepatitis B very rarely progresses to chronic liver disease. Not much is known about the HBV vaccine's duration of protection, or its long-term consequences. In a telephone interview, CDC epidemiologist Dr. Gary Shatz readily agreed that this vaccine could, in the future, cause problems similar to those of the measles epidemic. (quoted from Levin, Arthur, MDs resist hepatitis B vaccine mandate for infants as safety questions surface about immunization., Health Facts, 1 Aug 1993.) (NOTE from ME: The epidemic they are referring to was directly caused by an aggressive measles vaccine campaign.)

Here in Ohio, Hep B is only offered to newborns of Hep B pos mothers. All other babies are "encouraged" to receive the vaccine at 4 weeks.

At least you aren't made to think Hep B is mandatory for newborns. I did like the way that was worded. I would like to see that in our writings some where. Not compulsory just encouraged.

Parents Hassled About Declining HepB Vaccine

I recently had a transport situation and the parents were hassled beyond belief because they refused HepB before they left the hospital. Another friend of mine at a different hospital gave birth and refused HepB, and she was also threatened. They both continued to refuse. This has only been recently, and nothing has happened.....yet.

HepB Vaccine Administration Without Parental Consent

Compulsory Medical Treatment Is Un-American by Phyllis Schlafly

Please be warned . . . some hospitals are vaccinating babies without permission from the parents.

As some of my clients were leaving the hospital, they were handed their baby's "vaccination record" listing the HepB vaccine administered without their permission when the baby was one day old and in intensive care for respiratory distress, receiving antibiotics and on a ventilator.

Aside from the issue of ignoring parents' rights, they completely ignored the basics of good medicine, i.e. don't vaccinate sick babies.

The whole situation has left me feeling quite ill.

Parents may want to call their local hospital and ask whether they vaccinate babies without parental permission.

Doctors are vaccinating babies with Hep B vaccine at birth often without Parents consent.

It's pretty near the fact down here in Atlanta! Costs a fortune for the shot, too.

While in theory parents should be able to refuse things like vaccinations or other invasive treatment in the hospital, in practice very few are able to do so. The hepatitis B vaccine for newborns is not mandated by law in Texas but that doesn't stop it from being administered to every baby in every hospital in my state. Parents in the hospital who refuse such care are often subject to court order and/or their custody is removed for several days pending investigation. This is treated very seriously as child negligence. Unfortunately in America once in a hospital the child is often treated as the hospital's property. I have known women who have been threatened with court action for wanting to breastfeed their baby in NICU more often than every 3-4 hours!

Newborns in the state of Texas are not routinely given the Hep B vaccine without parental consent, nor are the parents harassed or threatened with CPS action if they decline.  I would venture to bet that any disagreement between an MD and parents that led to a discussion of CPS involvement had more issues surrounding it than we were given to know.  I should know since I am a Newborn CN in a hospital with over 5000 births a year.

I am good friends with a couple here who specifically told the doctors (Ob & Ped) that they did not want the HepB given to their son. They told the nurses. They gave a signed statement to both doctors and the hospital in advance. Their son was given Hep B anyway. With the next birth, the hospital couldn't understand why the parents refused to have him out of their sight.

A doctor's office in my area has a sign with removable letters. This last month it said, "Remember parents, Hep B is now required." This gives the impression that ALL parents are required by law to be sure their children have this vaccine. It's not true. Only children entering day care, etc.

So, yes, it happens that doctors give the vaccine w/o consent or by misrepresentation.