Why Hepatitis B Vaccine for Newborns?

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I never could understand the rationale behind the need for this vaccine for newborns. Don't read this if you want a peer review.

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/belkin.pdf

Specializes in NICU.

As a child, I had Measles, Whooping Cough, German Measles (aka Rubeola, Pertusis, Rubella). I was exposed to chicken pox (later had shingles at the age of 13). Also I had a positive Mumps titer, so I was exposed at some time. I also knew kids who had Diptheria, Scarlet Fever (Thank God for antibiotics), and one boy in my school died from Tetorifice. A neighbour girl was brain damaged from Measles at the age of five. And let's not forget the children crippled with Polio.

I also had two brothers, who also had their share of diseases, very hard on my mother. Anyone who complains about vaccinations doesn't know much about the diseases they prevent!

Nobody wants to go back to those days.

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Specializes in Too many to list.

Yes, it was an outbreak caused by the use of live polio vaccine (not by the Amish). And, that's the point, it was vaccine induced. You could make a case for protecting the unvaccinated from the innoculated here. They are now using a nonlive vaccine so it will be interesting to see how this plays out over time. As the farmer said, some of the Amish think vaccines may be bad for the immune system. Interesting folks, the Amish, intriguing that they, for the most part, don't have social security numbers.

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Specializes in Too many to list.
As a child, I had Measles, Whooping Cough, German Measles (aka Rubeola, Pertusis, Rubella). I was exposed to chicken pox (later had shingles at the age of 13). Also I had a positive Mumps titer, so I was exposed at some time. I also knew kids who had Diptheria, Scarlet Fever (Thank God for antibiotics), and one boy in my school died from Tetorifice. A neighbour girl was brain damaged from Measles at the age of five. And let's not forget the children crippled with Polio.

I also had two brothers, who also had their share of diseases, very hard on my mother. Anyone who complains about vaccinations doesn't know much about the diseases they prevent!

Nobody wants to go back to those days.

Actually, some of those "complaining" do know quite a bit about these diseases. Agreed, we don't want to go back to those days. Some, but not all vaccinations are problematic. This may be due to the timing of when they are given. It may be due to unknown risk factors that child has (some genetic, some environmental). It may be due to what the mom was exposed to during her pregnancy. Sometimes, just waiting until the child is older with a more developed immune system, and spacing vaccines further apart, might be a safer option. We actually get to make these decisions if we choose to, but some health providers will try to make us bad and wrong and crazy for doing so.

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No one knows for how long any vax gives immunity for really. *Most* vaccines do not give lifeling immunity, that is why your supposed to get boosters but who ever does? There have been quite a few studies done on the HepB vaccine and how long it lasts and most studies have show it to be from 8-15 years for most....I've seen other groups claiming it is lifelong but I'm not buying that for most people. If you search on medline or something similiar I was able to bring up quite a few studies real quick.

I think it just varies from person to person, some people get 3 rounds of the HepB series and still have no antibodies from it....how do you know your child isn't one of them and you think they are protected when they are not? For all I know my oldest dd was one of the people who didn't develop antibodies that is one of the reason I will get her titers checked as a teen. And "they" say that is rare to not develop antibodies (of course they do, they do want our money...lol) but I've known too many people who didn't respond to the vaccine to think it is that rare ya know?

So IMO vaccine newborns for it is silly unless high risk, I think it would be better served and more effective vaccinating kids around the age of 12 or 13 or something like that (or maybe even 10 or 11 when some kids are having sex nowday....). I've also read that you actually respond better to certain vaccines when your older and your immune system is more mature.

I agree with waiting. I, myself developed no antibodies despite three injections. And, also know of a surgeon with no antibodies. Would I do it again? No, but that's my personal choice. Maybe if I didn't know about my med tech's husband, a police officer who had one injection (required for his job), and was in the ICU in liver failure afterwards.

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Yes, it was an outbreak caused by the use of live polio vaccine (not by the Amish). And, that's the point, it was vaccine induced. You could make a case for protecting the unvaccinated from the innoculated here. They are now using a nonlive vaccine so it will be interesting to see how this plays out over time. As the farmer said, some of the Amish think vaccines may be bad for the immune system. Interesting folks, the Amish, intriguing that they, for the most part, don't have social security numbers.

Huh? It was Amish children who were infected, who were not innoculated. There has never been a case of a vaccinated person transmitting the vaccine virus to another human.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
Yes, it was an outbreak caused by the use of live polio vaccine (not by the Amish). And, that's the point, it was vaccine induced. You could make a case for protecting the unvaccinated from the innoculated here. They are now using a nonlive vaccine so it will be interesting to see how this plays out over time. As the farmer said, some of the Amish think vaccines may be bad for the immune system. Interesting folks, the Amish, intriguing that they, for the most part, don't have social security numbers.

The article clearly stated that the source of this girl's infection is UNKNOWN,

and that the genetic make-up of her virus was SIMILAR, but not identical to, that used in live vaccines outside the US, but NOT in this country.

To post that her infection was caused by the live polio vaccine is to spread mis-information.

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The article clearly stated that the source of this girl's infection is UNKNOWN,

and that the genetic make-up of her virus was SIMILAR, but not identical to, that used in live vaccines outside the US, but NOT in this country.

To post that her infection was caused by the live polio vaccine is to spread mis-information.

Not according to this:

http://pathmicro.med.sc.edu/virol/polio%20outbreak05.htm

This is also interesting:

http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=663

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Interesting. According to that article, the polio numbers were manipulated. Now, as a child in the 50s born pre-polio-vaccination, I remember lots of people walking around with braces from the illness, and my parents remember entire families being wiped out from the disease.

The only U.S. outbreak of the disease in decades was within a small, non-immunizing Amish community.

What about the SV40 contamination of the polio vaccine in that article?

http://www.nccn.net/%7Ewwithin/polio.htm#randall

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/160/4/306

http://www.immunizationinfo.org/iom_reports_detail.cfv?id=49

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/160/4/317

Looks like the IOM doesn't agree with some of the studies. If these guys can't agree with each other, who are we to believe?

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Specializes in NICU, Psych, Education.

I think Jolie is pretty much on target here actually. By completely reading the sc.edu article, we see that this was identified in the lab as a VDPV, a type of poliovirus that comes from oral polio vaccine. It's pretty clear that although the specific source was unknown, there was 2.3% divergence from the parent strain, which tells us that the virus had been replicating for about two years, making it older than the baby. Since we haven't used OPV here in the US for far greater than two years, the logical conclusion is that this was transmitted from someone who received OPV in another country.

A side note: this isn't a cut and dry case of a normal baby picking up polio from another vaccinated person. This kiddo was a seven month old with an undiagnosed case of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), a medical rarity found in 1 in 500,000 children.

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What does simian virus have to do with my remarks? Could you please provide me with some connection, however foggy, to what *I* said? I really don't feel like playing dueling URLs if you are going to keep changing the subject.

I never claimed that there was never an immunization contaminated or that proved to be dangerous to someone. You're completely missing the big picture in your concentration on proving that immunizatons are an evil plot to make money by Big Pharma, notwithstanding that vaccines make next to nothing.

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Specializes in Too many to list.
I think Jolie is pretty much on target here actually. By completely reading the sc.edu article, we see that this was identified in the lab as a VDPV, a type of poliovirus that comes from oral polio vaccine. It's pretty clear that although the specific source was unknown, there was 2.3% divergence from the parent strain, which tells us that the virus had been replicating for about two years, making it older than the baby. Since we haven't used OPV here in the US for far greater than two years, the logical conclusion is that this was transmitted from someone who received OPV in another country.

A side note: this isn't a cut and dry case of a normal baby picking up polio from another vaccinated person. This kiddo was a seven month old with an undiagnosed case of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), a medical rarity found in 1 in 500,000 children.

Then I stand corrected. Thank you for clarifying.

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Indigo girl - I see from 2 posts today that you have strong feelings on vaccinating children. Both of my children received their first Hep B in the hospital. I believe that vaccines are safe and effective. What happens when people stop vaccinating their kids because of concerns about Thimerosol? This does. This has just started. I suspect it will get a lot worse before it gets better.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/04/03/mumps.outbreak.ap/

This article states that 66% of infected people in the recent mumps outbread were fully vaccinated and another 14% were partialy vaccinated. If these vaccines are so effected then why are 66% of those infected recently coming down with mumps? We had an outbreak in middle school in 1987 in which several of my completely vaccinated friends got mumps. One had to have a gonad removed do to the fact that it hits this region hard after puberty. So far, no one in the recent outbreak has died and I think the numbers are up to 1,600 and growing. Mumps, like rueblla and chicken pox in a healthy child is an uncomfortable situation that passes. I would rather a mild experience with mumps at the age of 6 than a gonadectomy at the age of 35 because the vaccine wore off. Indigo Girl: Keep Questioning!!!

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