In the U.S., one in four children chronically infected with hepatitis B will die prematurely from cirrhosis or liver cancer. It would undo more than three decades of a prevention strategy that has nearly eliminated early childhood hepatitis B in the U.S. Why the CDC adopted universal hepatitis B shotsHepatitis B is a virus that infects liver cells, causing inflammation and damage. The hepatitis B vaccine has been available since the early 1980s. The hepatitis B vaccines used in the U.S. have an outstanding safety record.