American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)

Rule Changes

Opposing federal restrictions, defending gender-affirming care as evidence-based

Lurie Children's Hospital opened the Midwest's first pediatric gender identity clinic in 2013. Thirteen years later, it announced it will no longer prescribe gender-affirming medications to new patients under 18—days after HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart referred the hospital for federal investigation. Lurie joins at least 40 hospital systems that have paused or ended pediatric gender services since January 2025, including Rady Children's Health—California's largest pediatric healthcare system—which announced on January 23, 2026, it will stop all gender-affirming medical interventions on February 6. On February 3, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Rady for violating legally binding merger conditions that required the hospital to maintain gender-affirming care through 2034.

Updated Feb 6

Rule Changes

Maintains recommendation that all newborns get hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours

In December 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—reconstituted by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—voted 8–3 to end the universal recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of all US newborns’ birth. On December 16, 2025, Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill formally adopted the recommendation, shifting to individual-based or shared clinical decision-making for infants of mothers testing negative for hepatitis B, with any first dose suggested no earlier than two months old; birth doses remain advised for infants of positive or unknown-status mothers.

Updated Feb 6

Rule Changes

Opposes ending universal hepatitis B birth dose; continues to recommend vaccination within 24 hours

On December 5, 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—recently overhauled under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—voted 8–3 to end the longstanding recommendation that every U.S. newborn receive a hepatitis B vaccine dose within 24 hours of birth. For babies whose mothers test negative for hepatitis B, the panel now advises individualized decision-making with parents and suggests delaying the first dose until at least two months of age, while retaining the birth dose for infants whose mothers are infected or whose status is unknown; acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill ratified this on December 16, 2025.

Updated Feb 5