Somebody answer: Hep B Series

[Prettyladie]

okay so here is my question and dilemma. you know how you have to have your shots before you enter nursing school and/or clinicals. well what i want to know is if you have to "redo" any of the shots you've gotten at birth, particularly hepatitis b. i got it at birth, 2mos, 6mos. the usual. im trying to do emt over the summer and they want me to have have completed the series before clinicals. is it possible that i could still be immune. has anybody continued into clinicals, nursing, emt, cna, anything with clinical rotations etc, with only using the hep series from birth. what suggestions do you have for me. thanks so much.

prettyladie.

[Jolie, BSN]

Please ask your doctor to the health department to draw titers.

If you are immune, there is absolutely no reason to expose yourself to the risk or expense of another set of vaccinations.

It is entirely possible that you are immune from the series of injections you received in infancy.

[JDCitizen]

I agree have the titers done. Most people go through the series and never have the titers and more than a few are not immune. The three immunizations are important but the actual titer tells the truth.

[Prettyladie]

okay thanks so much for your help. they were just saying that i needed to have all three series done before clinical and i was freaking out because i didnt know if i needed them again. are most people still immune or not? and if i wasnt immune would have to get the hep series again. for both Jdcitizen and Jolie, did you repeat your hep series. and is it absolutely necessary for the titer.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I see that you are in your early 20s....you might want to make sure that you got the HepB series in infancy. I don't think HepB started being available for infants til the mid-90s.

If you did get them at some point in infancy or childhood, you might want to have titers drawn. Some people don't develop immunity, for whatever reason. But if you are immune, you save yourself the time, hassle, and unnecessary vaccines.

Most people develop immunity after the primary series (the 3 shots) and keep it long-term.

[Prettyladie]

well i was born in 86, and we had to have them to enroll in my school i believe and i didnt start kindergarden until 91. so maybe i did get it. my mother is about to look for my records and it will see, but im sure i did get it. but i dont know. so basically. just get the titers and if it shows immunity im done right?

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

If your titer shows immunity, then you're immune. :)

[Prettyladie]

thanks. another question. how long does it take for the results to come back from the titer.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

Depends on the facility...but generally a couple days.

[Prettyladie]

When did hepatitis B vaccine become available?

The first hepatitis B vaccine became commercially available in the United States in 1982. In 1986, a hepatitis B vaccine produced by recombinant DNA technology was licensed, and a second recombinant-type hepatitis B vaccine was licensed in 1989.

Will your child need a booster shot later in life?

At the present time, booster doses are not recommended routinely for people with normal immune systems. Although the level of protective antibodies in the blood of a vaccinated person seems to decline with time, the immune system retains an immunization "memory" and if the person is exposed to HBV, the system "kicks in" and provides the needed protection.

I got this from an immunization website.. so im sure im covered. thanks so much.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

http://www.immunize.org

[JDCitizen]

You immunization record should show "all" your immunizations and most schools its a requirement that they have those records.

Titer results usually a couple days...

I had my hepatitis series done through my place of work mid-eighties those records and plus my immunization records were always enough for the school. Since I am a tad older than you the hep-B series was not part of my childhood immunizations :-)