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** Vaccine Panel Shares Misleading Information on Hepatitis B Vaccine
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Last Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee voted to no longer issue a blanket recommendation that all newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine at birth. The committee had been reconstituted by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Under the new guidance, parents of babies born to mothers who test negative for the virus will be advised to discuss vaccination with a doctor to decide “when or if” to give the vaccine. For those who opt to forgo a birth dose, the panel “suggested” waiting at least two months to vaccinate.

Numerous experts and medical groups slammed the decision. The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics called the new recommendation “irresponsible and purposely misleading guidance” that “will lead to more hepatitis B infections in infants and children.”

Our SciCheck team, Jessica McDonald and Kate Yandell, monitored the committee's Dec. 4 and 5 meeting and wrote about several claims.

One committee member misleadingly suggested during discussions that the hepatitis B vaccine might cause multiple sclerosis. As Jessie and Kate wrote, it’s true that in the 1990s, case reports in France sparked concerns about the hepatitis B vaccine and MS. But the issue has now been studied more rigorously. The World Health Organization’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety has concluded that there is “no association” between the hepatitis B vaccine and MS.

In a presentation to the committee, a well-known anti-vaccine advocate implied the vaccines were not properly tested in placebo-controlled trials, echoing claims that rely on narrowly defining placebos. There have been more than half a dozen randomized, controlled trials on the safety of the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose, a Dec. 2 report from the Vaccine Integrity Project, an initiative of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, found.

For more on claims made at the meeting, see Jessie's and Kate's story: “Vaccine Panel, Voting to Change Hepatitis B Shot for Newborns, Shares Misleading Information ([link removed]) .”
IN THE NEWS
Nearly eight years ago, President Donald Trump denied using the word “shitholes” to describe African countries during an Oval Office meeting on immigration. In writing about the controversy at the time, we could only lay out what attendees of the closed-door meeting said about it. But this week, Trump admitted that he had said, “why is it we only take people from shithole countries?” Read more: "Trump Confirms His Disparaging Remark About ‘Shithole Countries’ at Immigration Meeting ([link removed]) . ([link removed]) "
FEATURED FACTS
Retail gasoline prices have remained low since January. The national average for a regular gallon of gasoline was $3.11 when Trump took office, and it was $2.94 as of Dec. 8, according to the Energy Information Administration. It dipped below $3 this month for the first time since May 2021. The lowest statewide average was $2.37 per gallon in Oklahoma, according to figures from AAA. Read more: "FactChecking Trump’s Economic Speech ([link removed]) ."
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** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* Vance’s Misleading Claims on Housing Prices and Illegal Immigration ([link removed])
Vice President JD Vance has exaggerated the increase in home prices during President Joe Biden’s time in office and has misleadingly pointed to illegal immigration as a primary cause of a rise in prices.

* Pentagon Inspector General Report Not ‘Total Exoneration’ for Hegseth ([link removed])
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that he received “total exoneration” in an investigative report by the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General regarding a Signal group chat about a military attack in Yemen. But the report contradicts that assessment, concluding that Hegseth’s messages “created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots.”

* Probing Trump’s Verbal Attack on Somalis ([link removed])
In a disparaging attack on Somalia in which he said he didn’t want people of Somali descent in the United States, President Donald Trump said Somalis “ripped off” Minnesota “every year” for “billions of dollars,” an apparent reference to a fraud investigation, and suggested that “like 88%” of Somalis receive “welfare” benefits.

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* Las afirmaciones engañosas de Vance sobre los precios de la vivienda y la inmigración ilegal ([link removed])
El vicepresidente J. D. Vance ha exagerado el aumento de los precios de la vivienda durante el mandato del presidente Joe Biden y ha señalado engañosamente que la inmigración ilegal es la principal causa del aumento de los precios.

* Panel de vacunación comparte información engañosa al votar cambios en la vacuna contra la hepatitis B para recién nacidos ([link removed])
Trastocando directrices de décadas de antigüedad, el comité asesor de vacunas de los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades votó a favor de dejar de emitir la recomendación general de que todos los recién nacidos reciban la vacuna contra la hepatitis B al nacer. A lo largo de la reunión, muchos panelistas hicieron afirmaciones engañosas sobre la vacuna.

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