Pentavalent Vaccine Could Weaken Hepatitis B Vaccination Efforts.(Brief Article)

2002 JAN 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - A new survey of pediatricians in the U.S. suggests efforts to increase compliance with hepatitis B vaccine recommendations could weaken if a pentavalent vaccine becomes available and begins to enjoy widespread use.

U.S. government researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recently completed a study examining vaccine practices among members of the American Academy of Pediatrics. With 68% of the nearly 600 doctors surveyed responding, government investigators now have a better idea about pediatricians' attitudes toward implementation of the hepatitis B vaccine series, for which the first dose is recommended to be given within the first few days of an infant's birth.

Out of 270 doctors who prescribed the vaccine for children, half recommended that all their infant patients receive the first "birth dose" regardless of maternal hepatitis B status, whereas the remainder reported they only recommended it for infants if there was evidence to suggest the mother was seropositive for HBV infection or the mother's status was unknown, or they reported that did not recommend the birth dose for infants.

"Practicing in the inner city, working for a medical school or government hospital, and living in a state with universal immunization supply policies were associated with the respondent giving the birth dose," Amanda Cooper and colleagues in the Center's National Immunization Program said.

Tracking difficulties, cost, and insurance company resistance to reimbursement were the most common reasons doctors cited for not giving the birth dose to infants (Attitudes, practices, and preferences of pediatricians regarding initiation of ...