Vaccine News & Notes — September 2018

Dr. Offit addresses getting medical advice from non-expert sources (with VIDEO)

Dr. Paul Offit, Vaccine Education Center Director, recently spoke at the Free Library of Philadelphia. His presentation was based on the recently published book Bad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren’t Your Best Source of Health Information. In the hourlong presentation, which is now featured on C-SPAN’s Book TV, Dr. Offit discussed the risk of getting medical advice from sources other than a doctor. Bad Advice was also recently reviewed in the Washington Post.

Hepatitis B vaccine should be given to newborns within 24 hours of birth

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated its hepatitis B vaccine recommendation for newborns. Specifically, the CDC now recommends that healthy newborns should get vaccinated by 24 hours of age rather than sometime before hospital discharge. The change was made in an effort to increase the number of newborns who get the first dose shortly after birth, because only about 71 percent were getting vaccinated before discharge. The Healthy People 2020 target goal is 85 percent.

In her own words: A pregnant woman’s choice to be vaccinated

The Shot of Prevention blog recently featured a post by Erica DeWald, a pregnant woman and Every Child By Two staffer. Erica described the reasons behind her decision to receive influenza and Tdap vaccines as recommended. Read more about Erica’s choice.

The Vaccine Education Center also offers a collection of resources for pregnant women at vaccine.chop.edu/yourbaby.