Projected Effect of 2026 Federal Changes to the Childhood Immunization Schedule on Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infections in the United States.

Fully implementing the 2026 proposed vaccination strategies could increase childhood chronic hepatitis B infections by up to 83% in the U.S. birth cohort.

• Why it matters: Understanding the impact of policy changes on hepatitis B infection rates is crucial for preventing long-term health consequences and guiding vaccination recommendations.
• What they did: A Markov cohort model analyzed 20-year projections for a 3.6 million U.S.-born infants, comparing universal birth-dose vaccination with deferred and shared decision-making strategies.
• The result: The study predicts that the deferred and shared decision-making strategies would raise chronic HBV infections to 303 and 467 cases, respectively, and significantly increase the number of children susceptible to HBV entering adulthood.