Hepatitis B Vaccine Safe?

[gkvegan]

I am starting nursing school this fall and I need to decide whether or not to get the hepatitis b vaccine. I have been reading a lot about it and there is so much conflicting information. I wanted to know what people think about the vaccine and whether or not you have had it.

Thanks

[kcochrane]

No, this is why you need to make people like Anne36 back up their claims with evidence. Especially if you are going to let allow her claims to influence your thinking so much that you don't know what to believe.

She has made the claim that the CDC is "at best" a political organization like moveon.org or the Discovery Institute. It is a very serious accusation to which you are appearing to lend some weight.

Why? Why would you let a random poster on a public message board so confuse you without looking at their evidence? Evidence, by the way, would have to be obtained using a far more in depth search than a google search.

This current mania about the safety of vaccines is evidence that people will believe anything they want regardless of evidence. Vaccines have saved countless lives and when people start refusing them because of specious "boogyman" claims about the CDC, government, or science in general, people are going to die.

Exactly...look how many people were scared of the MMR vaccine from flawed study by Wakefield. Many are so quick to believe a study or a site on the internet, and then so quick to dismiss the CDC.

[Bobbkat]

I haven't read all the posts, so forgive me if I've missed anything, but wanted to share my experience with Hep B. It was required for my program, so I had to get it. I had the first 2 shots years prior (like 10, it had been a while...) but never got the third. After I got the third (my PCP assured me that I didn't need all three, even though it had been so long) I remembered why. I was SO sick the day after the vax. Fever, chills, nausea, headache, fatigue. My mother looked at me and said "Oh, yeah! That's why you didn't get the third shot, it made you so sick when you got the first 2 in high school that you had to miss school." Ugh, not fun.

It only lasted a day or so, and I don't regret getting the vaccine at all. Just warning you that if you are sensitive to vaccines at all, or have a tendency to get sick afterwards....be prepared.

[Chelsea17]

My fiance's mom had just finished nursing school in Winnipeg MB and had to get a vaccination for Hep B. She was one of the most healthy women I've ever known and was in her early thirties. Two days after the vaccination she died from what the doctors said was "Miocarditis", she suffered 9 massive heart attacks from a foreign disease attacking her body, the cause.....unknown(according to the doctors). She never got to become a nurse, she never got to see her granddaughter that I was 8 months pregnant with...it has destroyed our lives. Since this incident I have done nothing but study the Hep B vaccination. Please read up about how many people it continues to kill. Please live your life and do not EVER get vaccinated.

[VioletKaliLPN, LPN]

I had the Hep B series at age 18, and I had the Hep A series before starting Nursing school. I wanted to protect myself. You will soon learn that vaccinations are safe, except in rare cases of allergic reactions or certain illnesses/situations.

[VioletKaliLPN, LPN]

If a disease attacked her body, then it would be fair to say that it was unrelated to the Hep B vaccine. She could have picked up an illness anywhere, which really sucks, but it is the truth.

Healthy people get sick all of the time.

[Miss_TT]

In my nursing program, I had a choice of getting the vaccine or sign a waiver. I chose to get the vaccine. I work with blood every day. The number one virus that you can contract from a dirty needlestick is hepatatis B virus. Hep B can live on surfaces for up to one week. I'm glad I am protected against it. I did not have any side effects from the vaccine. Any vaccine (and medication) can have side effects. You have to decide if the benefits outweigh the risks.

[BrazoriaLVN]

Please read up about how many people it continues to kill. Please live your life and do not EVER get vaccinated.

My father had Hep B. He later developed liver cancer. I remember the few days before his death. You would be amazed by the amount of blood that came from what seemed like every orifice.

Just because someone dies after a vaccine does NOT mean the vaccine killed them. You and other Jenny McCarthy wind-bags are directly responsible for the rising incidence of diseases easily preventable by vaccination. Shame on you.

[rogueninja]

I find this thread very interesting for personal reasons, and it has taught me something that I was unaware of until now.

I made the decision to receive the hep B series when I started to nursing school to protect myself, and I received my last hep B shot of the series in the beginning of April this year. At the end of April, several of my joints became inflamed, swollen, painful, and warm to the touch. I was miserable. My doctor ran tests, and then referred me to a rheumatologist. I have since been diagnosed with lupus. I am not saying that the vaccination has caused the development of lupus, but I do find it very interesting considering the timing of my vaccinations and onset of symptoms. Also, many of the sites that I just looked into have either listed lupus as a side effect of the vaccination, or stated that there is a strong correlation between the vaccination and lupus. It is definitely something that I will be looking into further.

[pockunit, ADN, RN]

I'll go ahead and guess that it's safer than hepatitis B.

[ErraticThinkerRN]

Get the vaccine. Every employer that I have had has not only required documentation of having been vaccinated, but did blood work to make sure that I had the antibodies and was immune. Plus, with everything you'll be exposed to as a nurse, you'll want all the help you can get.