Although public overwhelmingly supports hepatitis B vaccine for a newborn, partisan differences exist

(Press-News.org) On December 5, 2025, the Trump administration’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), whose members were handpicked by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary and vaccination critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is scheduled to determine whether it should recommend that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) change the recommendation in place since 1991 that newborns be vaccinated against hepatitis B. Infection with hepatitis B can cause liver damage (cirrhosis), liver cancer, and even death. Kennedy fired the members of ACIP he inherited when he assumed his HHS position.

Although ACIP decisions are not legally binding, they play a role in decisions by insurance companies and government programs about whether they will cover vaccinations. ACIP recommends vaccination schedules to the director of the CDC, who in years past has usually accepted the ACIP recommendations. The CDC currently recommends that infants should be given a dose of hepatitis B vaccine at birth. At issue are both when the vaccine should be given (to newborns or later in life) and, if delayed, whether a dose at birth should remain the recommendation for infants whose mothers test positive for the virus.

Kennedy has argued that most infants are not at risk of infection. Universal infant and childhood hepatitis B vaccination, however, has been credited with a 99% reduction in cases of acute hepatitis B among those younger than 19 years of age in the U.S. A new review by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) Vaccine Integrity Project that included more than 400 studies identified no evidence justifying delaying hepatitis B vaccination.  

In anticipation of ACIP’s deliberations, the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) asked three items about hepatitis B in a national survey of 1,637 adults (November 17 to December 1, 2025).


Most Americans would be likely to recommend the hepatitis B vaccine for a newborn
The APPC survey asked, “The CDC recommends that all children receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. If a newborn in your household were eligible to get the vaccine, how likely, if at all, would you be to recommend that person get a hepatitis B vaccine?” More than three quarters (77%) indicate that they would be either very likely (52%) or somewhat likely (25%) to recommend that a newborn in their household be vaccinated against hepatitis B. A little more than a fifth (23%) say they would be unlikely to recommend the vaccine, split between “not too” (12%) and “not at all” likely (11%).

Party Differences: Large majorities of self-identified Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents (90%), Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (65%), and non-leaning independents (71%) indicate they would be likely to recommend the hepatitis B vaccine, but Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are least likely to say they would do so.


A third would recommend the vaccine be given at birth
When asked to indicate the youngest age they would recommend that a person in their household get the hepatitis B vaccine from a list of choices (birth, one month old, four years old, twelve years old, nineteen years old, would not recommend at all), roughly a third choose birth (35%). Sixteen percent (16%) say the youngest age they would recommend is one month, 14% say age 4, 11% choose age 12, and the youngest age for 7% is 19 years old. Sixteen percent say they would not recommend the vaccine at all.

Party Differences: Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents (47%) are twice as likely as Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (23%) to endorse the existing recommendation of vaccinating children for hepatitis B at birth. Non-leaning independents are in between at 31%.
 

A plurality knows that Hepatitis B vaccine protects against liver disease; many unsure
Four in 10 (40%) indicate that the hepatitis B vaccine protects against liver disease, when asked to choose among a number of diseases and ailments (liver disease, pancreatitis, diabetes, mononucleosis (mono), herpes, chronic kidney disease, Zika, or none of the above). A third (32%) say they are not sure and 13% choose “none of the above.” Herpes is chosen by 10% followed by chronic kidney disease (7%) as the disease which the vaccine protects against; 4% each say pancreatitis or mononucleosis; and 1% each say diabetes or Zika.
 

APPC’s Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge survey
The survey data come from the 26th wave of a nationally representative panel of 1,637 U.S. adults conducted for the Annenberg Public Policy Center by SSRS, an independent market research company. This wave of the Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge (ASAPH) survey was fielded November 17, 2025 – December 1, 2025. The margin of sampling error (MOE) is ± 3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

APPC’s ASAPH team includes research analyst Laura A. Gibson; Patrick E. Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute; and Ken Winneg, managing director of survey research.

Download the topline here.

See also Americans more likely to trust American Medical Association than CDC on vaccination safety (December 2, 2025).

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