The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is calling on healthcare providers to ensure all healthy newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth.
Giving babies a hepatitis B shot shortly after birth is nothing new. However, the AAP’s previous guidelines allowed the vaccine to be delayed until the baby’s first pediatric checkup. Under the new policy, all babies weighing at least 4 lbs. 6 oz at birth should be given the vaccine within 24 hours to ensure maximum effectiveness, the policy states. Those weighing less should receive the vaccine before leaving the hospital or by 1 month old, whichever comes first, the AAP said.
Babies whose moms have tested positive for hepatitis B should be vaccinated on the first day of life regardless of weight, according to the guidelines.
Diseases, including vaccine-preventable diseases like hepatitis B, are caused by exposure to pathogens. Simply put, you cannot get a disease if you are not exposed to its pathogen — it’s germ-theory 101. Hepatitis B is caused by the hepatitis B virus, so if you are not exposed to the hepatitis B virus, you cannot get that disease. Hepatitis B is NOT caused by a lack of hepatitis B vaccination. A hepatitis B vaccine can train your immune system to attack and resist hepatitis B virus if it is exposed to it, but you still can’t contract it unless you are exposed.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), HBV is transmitted through activities that involve percutaneous (i.e., puncture through the skin) or mucosal contact with infectious blood or body fluids (e.g., semen, saliva), including:
- Sex with an infected partner
- Injection drug use that involves sharing needles, syringes, or drug-preparation equipment
- Birth to an infected mother
- Contact with blood or open sores of an infected person
- Needle sticks or sharp instrument exposures
Sharing items such as razors or toothbrushes with an infected person
