US panel recommends young children receive hepatitis A vaccination

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that all children in the United States between the ages of 1 and 2 years receive a two dose vaccination against the hepatitis A virus. Hepatitis A vaccines were first licensed in 1995. Since 1999 the government has recommended hepatitis A vaccinations for children in 17 states where rates of the disease were highest. But the success of these campaigns seems to have levelled off, and health officials fear rates might rebound. About …