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U.S. Newborn Hepatitis B Vaccination Rates Plunge, Reversing Years of Gains
Hepatitis B vaccination rates among U.S. newborns have fallen by more than 10 percentage points over the past 2 years, reversing 6 years of steady gains, according to an analysis of electronic health records.
Among more than 12 million infants, birth-dose hepatitis B vaccination rates rose from 67.5% in January 2017 to a peak of 83.5% in February 2023 before declining to 73.2% by August 2025, reported Joshua M. Rothman, MD, MS, of the University of California San Diego, and colleagues in a research letter published in JAMA.
“A lot of families are talking about vaccines right now, and so we really wanted to understand … when did that shift in the newborn hepatitis B vaccine rates start?” Rothman told MedPage Today. “And then, what could have influenced that shift? We really wanted to know how much those rates were declining.” Using an autoregressive integrated moving average model, the researchers found that vaccination rates beginning in July 2023 fell significantly below forecasted levels, marking a sustained divergence from prior trends.
Measles: Extra Funding Announced for GPs Who Boost Vaccination Rates
Childhood vaccination targets for general practices in England will be overhauled to provide extra financial support to practices that are improving uptake, the government says. The move is designed to tackle falling vaccination rates and provide more support to practices — often in deprived areas — that struggle to meet existing coverage targets.
It follows a recent rise in measles cases in England, largely driven by an outbreak in north London that has seen some children admitted to hospital.1 Under the current contract, practices earn additional incentive payments through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) only if they hit high levels of coverage for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and other vaccines.
The government said this means practices in areas with lower vaccination rates “who need the assistance most” often miss out on earning additional payments even when they are improving their vaccination rates.
After Slow Fall COVID Shot Rollout, Oregon Moves to Bolster Public Health Officials’ Authority
The stories during fall’s annual vaccine season kept piling up: Patients driving to Washington. Doctors concerned about a lack of liability protections. Pharmacists navigating a legal gray area they had never seen before.
Oregonians went to great lengths to access their annual COVID-19 vaccine last year in the wake of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s political overhaul of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The committee dragged its feet on issuing guidance around the updated COVID shot, leaving providers to defer to the Food & Drug Administration’s recommendation for the vaccine to people aged 65 or older or those at risk of severe illness due to an underlying condition.
Concerns about the federal government’s scientific integrity prompted the September creation of a pro-vaccine coalition led by the governors of Oregon, Hawaii, California and Washington. The West Coast Health Alliance has since rebuked the advisory panel’s recommendations, issuing its own guidance to encourage anyone who wants the COVID-19 vaccine to get it, as well as supporting access to childhood vaccines such as the Hepatitis B shot for newborns regardless of a mother’s infection status.
Study Shows Low Vaccination Rates Among Expectant Mothers in Norway Against COVID-19, Influenza
A study of over 50,000 pregnant women in Norway during the 2023/24 influenza season found that only 29.9% were vaccinated against influenza and 12.1% against COVID-19 during pregnancy, remaining far below recommended targets. The study was published in Eurosurveillance and conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
Vaccination against COVID-19 and influenza are recommended during pregnancy by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Norway, as pregnant women and their newborns have an increased risk of severe outcomes from these diseases. For at-risk groups, the WHO recommends a vaccination target of 75% for both infections.
‘It Was Like Buying Groceries’ — Woman Calls for Tighter Weight-Loss Jabs Checks
Emma Dyer remembers the moment she clicked “buy now” on a set of weight‑loss jabs she found online. She had no medical consultation, no ID checks, and no questions about her history of anorexia and bulimia. “It was just so easy — too easy,” she says. “They never asked for my medical history or what medication I was taking. It was like buying groceries.”
Within days of taking the injections, Emma collapsed on her bathroom floor and thought she was going to die. Emma had a history of eating disorders. She says she had reached a healthy weight, felt stable, and was working in a job she enjoyed. But a single comment from a customer who she said told her “you looked a lot better when you were skinnier”, sent her spiralling.
“I came home one night and rushed into it,” she says. “I typed in ‘weight-loss injections’. I just wanted to lose weight as quickly as I could. I thought if I was skinny again, people would accept me — and I’d accept myself.”
Eli Lilly Launches New Weight-Loss Drug Zepbound KwikPen: What to Know
Eli Lilly announced on “Good Morning America” Monday that its GLP-1 weight-loss drug Zepbound will now be available in a new multi-dose KwikPen, giving patients a simpler way to receive a full month of treatment in one device. The Food and Drug Administration approved a label expansion allowing Zepbound to be delivered through the four-dose, single-patient KwikPen, which provides four once-weekly injections without the need for syringes.
The pen has been used by millions of patients worldwide for other Lilly medications, according to the company. The new Zepbound KwikPen will be available beginning Feb. 23 to eligible self-pay patients who receive prescriptions through LillyDirect, the company’s direct-to-consumer platform.
Patients will be able to choose between the multi-dose pen or the existing single-dose vials at the same self-pay price, starting at $299 per month for the 2.5 mg starter dose.
Stanford Team Develops ‘Universal Vaccine’ That Protects Against Multiple Infections
A new Stanford study marks a big step forward in the creation of a new kind of vaccine that offers protection against a range of infections at once. Traditionally, vaccines protect against one particular pathogen, but in this study, Stanford Medicine researchers created a vaccine that successfully offered immunity from respiratory viruses, bacteria, and even allergens in mice.
The study, published Thursday in the scientific journal Science, and the researchers behind the study hope to raise funding for clinical human trials. Dr. Bali Narendran, senior author of the study, said it represents a departure from the way vaccines have been developed for more than 200 years.
“We have the flu shot that hopefully will protect us against flu, we have the COVID shot to protect us against COVID,” he said. “We don’t go to a pharmacist and say, ‘Doctor, could I have the flu shot so that I can be protected against COVID?’ So there’s a high degree of specificity.”
