I have talked this over with several paediatricians. All said that unless you have risk factors (such as listed above), no one "needs" Hep B until their teens, when the possibility of the child's OWN risky behaviour begins. They said the reason the vaccine is given so young is to make it fit in with the other childhood immunisations. If we waited till the teens, fewer children would be vaccinated.

When the vaccine first came out in the late 70s/early 80s, only dentists & other people whose jobs took them in contact with body fluids, got the vaccine. Then it was everyone in medicine, then in child care...now it's nearly universal.

With my first two, I elected to delay Hep B until they started school. With my next two, they started the series at 2 months. It's hard to avoid it by that point, because the jabs are now combo ones which include Hep B. My last 2 bubs were both seen in hospital by a neonatologist who told me that waiting until 2 months was absolutely not a problem. One thing to know is that the national vaccine register then shows bub as not fully vaccinated until the end of the first year, which didn't worry me.

Having said all that, all the doctors also told me that Hep B is a very, very safe vaccine and if it's important to give it at birth for whatever reason, there are no concerns.