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Can someone please shed some light here!
This is how I understood things, and hopefully its right.
If you decline the HEP B injection at birth, that's fine, and the baby does not need an additional "catch up" as they get more doses at other intervals anyway.
IS this right?
I was told that the birth one is just an "added" one. Im confused!
none of my kids have had the one at birth and just had the other ones, and it has not been a problem.
SO just to clarify, your kids had one less dose than others? Is that right? You didnt' have to add an additional dose?
Yep DS didn't have it either, and its fine :)
ok good stuff!!
So why is it "standard" for babies to have it if its not entirely necessary? Why put a small bub through that?
I am pretty sure it's related to trying to vaccinate higher risk groups while they can, and as soon as they can. That was the vague explanation i got anyway. Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.......
We declined it for DD, no probs at all.
There is actually no real reason to give Hep B at birth. It is purely a protective and preemptive action. It is designed to help prevent the contraction of the virus in small children and infants, who due to their age and lack of developed immune system cannot fight the infection. About 90% of kids who get Hep B will end up with a chronic infection (very serious)
The injection is also given at birth due to the increased risk of contraction during birth from an infected mother. Hospital workers, given their ontact with blood etc, are also in a high risk group, so it is advocated as a protection for the infant whilst in care of hospital workers. People born in regions of China, Pacific Islands, the Middle east, amazon basin, SE Asia, Africa and soth America are all classed as high risk (there are a number of nurses and doctors now working in Australian hospitals who are from these groups and although tested, I did have one doctor tell me to get DD done because of their contact with other foreigners who may be unknowingly carrying the disease!)
So yeah, no reason to get it done at birth, other than a fear of infection in children and the development of the chronic virus. Also to prevent the child from becoming a carrier of the virus.
The actual percentage of children in Australia who develop a Hep B infection in the first 3 months is 85-90% if born to a mother with the virus, usually thought to occur in utero. Obtaining the figures on how many children develop the full blown virus who are not born into high risk groups or of mothers with the virus is very hard to come by!
ETA: It should be said however that if you are in a risk group - Asian, Pacific Islander, Amazonian, South Amreican, Middle Eastern, African or Aboriginal (who actually have the highest infection rate in the country) or come into regular contact with or live amongst people of these groups, you are considered to be in a high risk area. Therefore the vax becomes a much more serious decision. Hep B is a HIGHLY communicable disease, so it is serious, and causes life long problems for sufferers, for the most part never clearing completely form the body. It is worht serious thought and research if you are in these groups. (Particularly if you plan on giving the further infant vax of Hep B (at 2 and 6 months) then consideration of having it done at birth, before returning the child to the high risk area, becomes a concern worth thinking about.)
HTH :)
I declined it for Zachery, they made me sign a form to say i had declined it as well. In my blue book in huge (and i mean huge) writing across the Heb B and Vit K page says 'DECLINED'.....LOL
As far as im aware..it just means 1 less dose then children who get it at birth.
declined here too! like kim said just had to sign a form and i kept reminding them that we had declined
I declined too, actually the midwife at hospy was all for us declining! I was suprised and ready to give her an explanation why we didn't want it etc.
Bronners- My midwife was really supportive too.
same here!!
so was my midwife! Im still not convinced I want it for DS at 2 months though, can I decline it then too and just get the others?
We declined, the middie was great, and I thought we'd cop it from the old school doc who realeased us, but he smiled and said great choice, she doesn't need it!!! :D
Yes you can m23, you can decline any vaccination at any time.
Often HepB is combined with other vacc's for the next few jabs, so you need to check that out and make sure you are happy declining all, or find the others without HepB. ;)
Yep - if DH and I didn't work in a high risk environment we would have declined but I couldn't take the risk knowing the consequences if they did get Hep B as infants / children.
Thanks everyone!!!
We declined when Mason was born as well but I just wanted to make sure. thanks!
What LS said. We had it done, didn't even cross my mind to say no.
I think a lot of the reasoning is also that some high risk group members may not return for the next vaccinations.
the vaccine at birth is a different kind of vaccine to what is offered later - has to be administered very early on to be effective. it's not essential,but if you're in a high risk group or have a lot of exposure to high risk groups, i can see why it's recommended
How is it different BG?
there was a thread a while ago about the mother who was being chased with her new born as she was Hep B positive and declining the vacc for the baby - authorities had DOCS or similar on the case cos the birth vaccine is a different version to the one later on - i can't honestly remember how though, i just remember reading that it had to be administered within, i believe, 72 hours for it to be effective, otherwise it was a waste of time... i cant find the posts now to refer back to it though:
ETA here is an article related to the case i was mentioning - it refers to both immunoglobulin and vaccine being administered if the parent is hep b positive - perhaps that is what was meant
I think that what it means is that if a child is born to a mother who is HBP then they must recieve the vax within 72 hours for it to be an effective prevention against the baby contracting a full blown infection of the virus. (I think I posted this earlier, but it is about 90% of kids born to HBP mothers who contract the full virus) The actual makeup of the vax is the same, I believe, as it is when given at 2 months
the article says they actually get two injections at birth if to a hep b pos mum - one of immunoglobulin (immune defence) and one of vaccine:
Well lucky I dont have to worry about that. So J will be injection free.