Starting Clinicals, Hepatitis B Vaccine question

[nursegc]

Hello all,

I am beginning my clinicals in January of 2011. I just received my physical today and was presented with the option of the Hepatitis B vaccine. I did some research and found some compelling evidence against taking the series. I would appreciate any and all thoughts on this subject.

Thank you.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Herd immunity is what's keeping larger outbreaks from occurring simply because enough people are immune and can provide a kind of biological shield around those that aren't immune. Native Americans when they were first exposed to various pathogens that were brought to them. They had no herd immunity to those diseases, consequently, they got wiped out.

Active immunity is acquired the same way that naturally-acquired immunity is: the body is exposed to a foreign substance, the body reacts to it and builds antibodies to that substance. The problem is that when you're exposed and you have no immunity to begin with, hopefully your immune system will react fast enough to keep the pathogen from killing you or seriously damaging your health.

While I think it's a good idea to immunize against certain diseases, I do not think that we should live our lives in a sterile bubble either. That just has our immune systems looking for something to work on... IMHO.