Originally published October 17 2005
Study confirms that hepatitis B vaccine lasts a decade
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A study in Lancet has reported that no booster is needed for the Hepatitis B vaccine.
London: This will surely bring a smile on the faces of parents throughout the world, as a new study published in the Lancet claims that the immunizing effects of the hepatitis B vaccine last as long as 10 years, and that there was no need of a booster dose to protect kids from this dangerous disease.
Alessandro Remo Zanetti from the Institute of Virology Faculty of Medicine, Milan, Italy and colleagues looked at whether concentrations of antibodies against hepatitis B were retained in 1212 children and 446 Italian Air Force recruits vaccinated as infants and adolescents respectively, and found that 64% of children and 89% of the recruits retained protective concentrations of antibodies.
According to the authors, the study shows that infant and adolescent immune systems can recall responding to hepatitis B more than 10 years after immunisation.
"In light of our findings, the use of routine booster doses of hepatitis B vaccine does not seem necessary to maintain long-term protection in immunocompetent individuals vaccinated as infants and teenagers."
"Unless accumulating data show a significant increase of HBV infection in adolescents or adults who were vaccinated as children, a policy of booster vaccination in a population should not be recommended.
We believe that this applies both to hyperendemic and lowlyendemic areas of the world," Ding-Shinn Chen from the National Taiwan University, wrote in an accompanying comment to the study.
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