Hep B vaccine question

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care.

I need to have my Hepatitis B vaccine series completed by mid-January. I got the first shot mid-August, thinking that would be enough time... I went back today for the second shot and realized that I would be one month short (i.e. if I got the third shot mid-January, I would be getting it 5 months after the first shot... one month too soon). Would there be serious complications from getting the last injection one month too soon? I need to have the series completed before beginning clinicals. Any advice on this is appreciated!

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

With our school, all you have to do is have the FIRST of the three series in order to begin clinicals. Verify your information that you need all three.

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Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care.

It says on the school website that the series must be completed by the time we begin clinicals.

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Specializes in Hospice / Psych / RNAC.

Are your schools requiring you to have the hep B vaccine series in order to enroll?

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Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care.

Yes. We were told to start the series before even turning in an application, because the vaccine takes several months.

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Sounds like you need to call the doc that is giving you the vaccine and ask him or her about getting the shot early.

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Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care.

Thank you for the responses! Just to clarify, I know my post sounded misleading. I am not asking for medical advice. I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this kind of situation... again, thank you for the responses!

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

If you get the last vaccination one month early it will not count as a completed series because it would have been given outside of the recommendations for the series. It would be no different than if a child received his/her vaccine outside of the schedule...it would have to be repeated in order to be considered valid by the schools or the CDC.

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Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care.

So in other words... I'm screwed? :(

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Specializes in Cardiac Critical Care.

On the CDC website, it just says the 3rd dose needs to be given at least 2 months after the 2nd dose and at least 4 months after the first dose...

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2012/chapter-3-infectious-diseases-related-to-travel/hepatitis-b.htm

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Check with your school and your PCP. It may depend not only on your school's policy but also the policies of the clinical facilities. It's also possible that your PCP might not want to administer dose #3 early.

For my school we had to have at least the first two shots completed before starting clinical rotations as long as the 2nd shot was administered before the start of classes. (Some students did not have a definite admission until right before classes started.)

From the CDC website "Primary immunization consists of 3 doses, given at 0, 1, and 6 months." There are accelerated schedules (and even a 2 dose vaccine (combo of Hep A & B) but that is only licensed for those age 11-15) but 0, 1, & 6 months is the standard.

We had to have at least two shots completed before we started clinical rotations. But not all clinical sites accepted students who didn't have the 3-dose series and a titer showing immunity. Those students were rotated to other facilities.

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The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) states that the minimum dosing schedule for Hep B is as follows: 4 weeks between 1st injection and 2nd, 8 weeks between 2nd and 3rd, with at least 16 weeks between the 1st and 3rd. You can view this information on the vaccine specific recommendation heading under the ACIP recommendations page.

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