Until now, the academy had recommended the vaccine be given by the baby’s first checkup. Now, the risk of infection has increased with the ongoing opioid crisis, as more moms are getting infected with hepatitis B and passing the virus on to their babies, the authors of the new guidelines explained.
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“Many adults with an infection do not feel or look sick and are not even aware that they carry the virus. It is contagious and adults can [also] transmit it while caring for an infant after birth,” Barnett explained in an academy news release.
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