Should I get the Hep B vaccine?

SarasLPN · Nov 30, 2004

at the school i go to it is required not by the school but by the hospital? weird huh? see i thought you could refuse it and sign off on it. anyhow you should just get the shot its to protect yourself it like using "protection" you know? the hospital you are going to do clinicals at may even pay for it! ask it won't hurt.

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?

SarasLPN · Nov 30, 2004

You may not be immune to the vaccine. You probably just didn't get a big enough does. I think once they draw and test immunity and you are immune then you don' t have to get another one or you only get a booster every 3 to 5 years but don't write that in stone!

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!

CHATSDALE · Nov 30, 2004

several years ago i went through the 3 injection series...last year following a needle stick i was sent to industrial medicine and everything came back negative including h-b titer

md said it didn't mean that i had no immunity and that i didn't need to repeat series...said that if below 50% then a negative reading would be expected...but i have heard different things online also...makes you feel like you are walking a tightrope...a lot of our res are hiv+ and also pos for hep b/c...scares you to death

WickedRedRN, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2004

I have to go into the Dr in the AM to get my tetnaus booster and start the Hep B series again. I guess since it has been almost 15 years since I have worked in a healthcare environment and my titer was neg it can't hurt

RedSox33RN · Dec 1, 2004

I was required to get it for school, but wanted to anyway. Just makes ME feel a tad better.

I was supposed to show proof of immunity in January, but my last shot was early Nov., and my doc said it was useless to draw for a titer in Jan, because it would show up negative. Earliest I could try for a positive titer would be February. I had to relay the info to the nursing dept. secretary. That was fine with her, because I showed proof of getting the last shot.

I've heard that many people never convert to a positive titer.

Tony35NYC · Dec 1, 2004

several years ago i went through the 3 injection series...last year following a needle stick i was sent to industrial medicine and everything came back negative including h-b titer
md said it didn't mean that i had no immunity and that i didn't need to repeat series...said that if below 50% then a negative reading would be expected...but i have heard different things online also...makes you feel like you are walking a tightrope...a lot of our res are hiv+ and also pos for hep b/c...scares you to death

According to the CDC, your doc is correct. My understanding of this is that the HBV anbtibody titer may come back negative if you completed the series many years ago, but this doesn't mean the immunity is no longer there. In fact, the CDC says that booster vaccines are NOT necessary because the immune memory system remains intact intact indefinitely (unless it is compromised by a disease like AIDS) and will continue to protect against HBV antigens.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/b/faqb.htm#7

kahumai, RN · Dec 1, 2004

The Hep vx wasn't required for my program, just *strongly* recommended. However, I work in dialysis and we have a bunch of Hep. patients, and since the hospital I work for gives it to employees for free, there was no reason not to. I actually have my last of the series due next week.

Either way, I would say to get it...you can never be too safe!

RainDreamer, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2004

We were required to get the Hep B vaccine for school too. The hospitals we do our clinicals at require it, therefore we had to get it. Even if it were optional I still would have gotten it. We all know hep B is nothing to mess around with so we need to protect ourselves as best we can before going into a setting where there's that risk.

Good info from the CDC website, thanks for posting that!

Imafloat, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2004

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?

It is required here. I don't know if vaccines are the same everywhere, but where I get mine it is a dead virus.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2004

It's optional in the school I'm starting in January. But there isn't a good reason to refuse. Go for it. :)

UTRN2005 · Dec 1, 2004

It was required for my program, along with PPD, and varicella or proof of disease. Personally, I've never had a reaction to a vaccine and see no reason to not get one. So many pts have Hep B/C or other diseases that I can't imagine not having the vaccine. I'm always careful with needles and any body fluids but it's still better to have the vaccine in case something ever happens. Just my two cents.

General E. Speaking, RN, RN · Dec 2, 2004

hepatitis b is more contagious than AIDS. It is an inactivated vaccine (less chance of side effects). There are about a million people with chronic hepatitis. Good fact sheet in the link below:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/b/fact.htm

I was under the impression that even if your titers were low that is was thought that if exposed, your body would boost your immunity to fight the infection. So, revaccination isn't necessary? Maybe that is "old school" thinking?