ALBANY, NY – Senator Michelle Hinchey and Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, Chair of the Assembly Health Committee, issued the following statements today in response to the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) vote to abandon its long-standing recommendation that all newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth if their mothers test negative for the virus. The decision came from the RFK Jr.–appointed panel, despite decades of scientific evidence demonstrating the safety and necessity of the birth dose.

Senator Michelle Hinchey said, "Abandoning newborn protections against Hepatitis B is indefensible and elevates conspiracy over science, which is exactly what the Trump administration is counting on. For 30 years, the hepatitis B birth dose has safeguarded newborns from lifelong infections that can lead to liver cancer or death. If today’s actions by the federal ACIP have made one thing clear, it’s that New York needs the Vaccine Integrity Act to ensure that we can protect the health of New Yorkers through proven science."

"This is precisely the kind of scientifically unsupported disruption that New York must be prepared to guard against," said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin. “The data is clear: the hepatitis B birth dose is safe, effective, and critical to preventing lifelong illness in infants. To see a federal advisory panel disregard established evidence puts newborns at risk and underscores why New York can no longer rely solely on federal decision-making for vaccine access and coverage. The Vaccine Integrity Act would ensure that New Yorkers are protected from these abrupt federal reversals, maintaining access to vaccines backed by science and longstanding public-health expertise."

The Vaccine Integrity Act (S.8496/A.9060) would allow New York to follow vaccine recommendations issued by the New York State Immunization Advisory Council (IAC), the 21st Century Workgroup for Disease Elimination and Reduction (WDER), and regional public health bodies, not just ACIP. The bill would also require insurance coverage for vaccines recommended by these entities, protecting New Yorkers from gaps in access that could arise from unexpected federal policy shifts, like today’s.

Paulin and Hinchey emphasized that the hepatitis B birth dose has been recommended since 1991 because newborns who contract hepatitis B face a 90% chance of lifelong chronic infection, often leading to cirrhosis, liver cancer, and early death. Major medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have already come out in strong opposition to ACIP’s change.

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