A Statement from the Blumberg Family

We are the children and grandchildren of Baruch Blumberg, MD, PhD, Nobel Laureate. Along with his colleagues in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and across the globe, our father discovered hepatitis B and developed the vaccine against it.

We are appalled by the decision of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel to officially recommend an alteration to the well-established protocols of the infant dose of the vaccine. The CDC's recommended removal of universal hepatitis B infant vaccination, as well as a delay in the first of the three doses of the series, will critically undermine the vaccine’s effectiveness and leave many infants and children open to the devastations of this otherwise vaccine-preventable disease. The panel's decision flies in the face of more than 60 years of established research and 40 years of global vaccination rollout that has proven both the safety and efficacy of the hepatitis B vaccine. Countless millions of lives have been spared chronic suffering and an early death from liver disease, cirrhosis or liver cancer.

Our father was a research scientist and also a physician. He served in the United States Navy, the U.S. Naval Reserve and as an officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. He always put the care of his patients first and ultimately, the health and welfare of all. He was dedicated to his family, to his country and to all the people that his lifelong work could possibly reach. He was an unquenchable optimist and a passionate believer in the power and excellence of American science. Were he alive today he would be horrified by the actions of the once-great CDC and its anti-scientific and dangerous new administrators.

Anne Blumberg
Jane Blumberg
Noah Blumberg
Isabella Dorfman
Nathaniel Dorfman
Caleb Thompson
Emilie Thompson
Abe Thompson
Cordelia Blumberg
Henry Blumberg
Jacopo Blumberg

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A Statement from the Blumberg Family