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Although the hepatitis B vaccine is widely heralded as a public health success story, Kennedy has long targeted the vaccine as unnecessary and dangerous.
The universal HBV birth dose has prevented an estimated 90,100 childhood deaths since 1991, but a federal vaccine advisory group may vote to end the practice.
Hospitals and health departments across the country say they're not planning to change their vaccination policy.
The Utah-Arizona outbreak has grown to 254 cases.
No secondary transmission chains have been identified in France.
The 27 new cases involved exposures at schools, churches, and in households.
Current US hot spots are Utah, Arizona, and South Carolina.
The measures, which passed despite vehement protests from several members, drew swift rebuke from the medical community.
“We are deeply concerned by sweeping new FDA assertions about vaccine safety and proposals that would undermine a regulatory model designed to ensure that vaccines are safe, effective, and available," write 12 former FDA directors.
Physicians say a federal advisory panel's proposed restrictions on hepatitis B vaccine are part of a broad assault on vaccine access.
