(New York Times) – A federal vaccine committee took a major step toward Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s goal of remaking the childhood vaccine schedule on Friday, voting to end a decades-long recommendation that all newborns be immunized at birth against hepatitis B, a highly infectious virus that can cause severe liver damage.

The divisiveness and dysfunction of the committee in making the decision, however, raised questions about the reliability of the advisory process and left at least one critic “very concerned about the future” of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Read More)