Physician Perspective: Why Delaying Newborn Vaccines Will Harm Children

In a powerful USA Today op-ed, LACMA member Valencia P. Walker, MD, MPH, FAAP, a neonatologist, warns that proposed changes to the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule could have devastating consequences for infants and families. Dr. Walker shares her frontline experience caring for critically ill newborns and describes the growing challenge of remaining silent as more parents delay or refuse vaccinations amid misinformation and shifting federal signals.

Dr. Walker focuses on the hepatitis B vaccine, which the CDC began recommending universally for newborns in 1991. That single policy change reduced childhood hepatitis B infections from approximately 18,000 cases per year to just a few dozen, preventing more than 500,000 infections and an estimated 90,000 childhood deaths. She explains that hepatitis B is far more contagious than commonly believed, can be transmitted through everyday childhood contact, and often goes undetected until it causes irreversible liver failure or cancer.

"A strong and healthy society should use vaccines that protect babies against preventable infections rather than chase conspiracy theories that people continue to invent."

As the CDC’s advisory committee considers revisiting long-standing vaccine recommendations, Dr. Walker cautions that delaying or eliminating routine childhood immunizations will lead to preventable illness and death from diseases pediatricians once rarely saw, including measles, meningitis, whooping cough, and liver cancer. While affirming parents’ right to make informed decisions, she stresses that true informed consent must be grounded in evidence-based science, not fear or conspiracy. Her message is clear: protecting the most vulnerable children requires maintaining proven public health policies, not dismantling them.

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