Should I get the Hep B vaccine?

stbernardclub · Nov 30, 2004

hepatitis b vaccines are given over 3 injections. You should get them ,BUT if you choose not to at this time, when you are a nurse your employer will offer them.

To start nursing school, I have to get a few vaccines, but hepatitis B is optional. Is it dangerous to get? I don't know much about it or its side effects so should I get the vaccine or decline it?

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Nov 30, 2004

The effect of the Hepatitis B vaccines on fetuses is not yet know, so (last i heard) it's not recommended for pregnant women or women trying to get pregnant.

I'd recommend getting it.

WickedRedRN, BSN, RN · Nov 30, 2004

Question....

If you take the Hep B vaccine, will you lose immunuty over time? Reason I ask is in 92, the hospital I worked at offered Hep B. I took it. Now, I am doing my paperwork to start clinicals and my Dr ran a titer to verify immunity. She called me today to say the results were negative and I will need to repeat the vaccine. If this is the case, are there boosters you get every so often?

Thanks!

Jo Dirt · Nov 30, 2004

I have never had a HBV shot and never will.

lil' girl, LPN · Nov 30, 2004

We HAD to get it for school.

Tony35NYC · Nov 30, 2004

Its a pretty good idea to get the HBV vaccine if you work in any environment where you're handling blood, body fluids, open wounds, or syringe needles that may be infected with the virus. Because healthcare workers do these things all the time they are listed by the CDC as being at high risk for all types of hepatitis. Why risk getting a chronic liver disease if it can be avoided by immunization? My school also told us that getting the hep B vaccine is optional, but they strongly emphasized that it would be in our own best interest to get it.

Marie, the latest info from the CDC is that the HBV vaccine is recommended for pregnant women.

Lori, according to the CDC, you do not need to be immunized again, even if the titer comes back negative.

http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/2109hcw.htm

ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Publications/mmwr/rr/rr4618.pdf

Nurse Ratched, RN · Nov 30, 2004

I wouldn't be without it.

NewEnglandRN, RN · Nov 30, 2004

Hep B was required for admission to my school. I had the series in 1990, so my Dr. drew a titre and I have no immunity, so I have to repeat it.

akcarmean, LPN · Nov 30, 2004

it was required for our school

VizslaMom · Nov 30, 2004

I wouln't go without it either.

Recommendations and Reports on HBV from the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00033405.htm

Vaccination of Selected High-Risk Groups
Efforts to vaccinate persons at high risk of HBV infection should follow the vaccine doses shown in Table_1. High-risk groups for whom vaccination is recommended include:
Persons with occupational risk. HBV infection is an occupational hazard for health-care workers and for public-safety workers who have exposure to blood in the workplace (24,58). The risk of acquiring HBV infections from occupational exposures depends on the frequency of percutaneous and permucosal exposure to blood or blood-contaminated body fluids. Any health-care or public-safety worker may be at risk for HBV exposure, depending on the tasks he or she performs. Workers who perform tasks involving contact with blood or blood-contaminated body fluid should be vaccinated (24,58, 59). For public-safety workers whose exposure to blood is infrequent, timely postexposure prophylaxis should be considered rather than routine preexposure vaccination.
For persons in health-care fields, vaccination should be completed during training in schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, laboratory technology, and other allied health professions, before trainees have their first contact with blood.

VizslaMom · Nov 30, 2004

I have never had a HBV shot and never will.

May I ask you why?