CDC Publishes Updated Hep B Vaccination Recommendations
On March 31, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the updated Hep B vaccination recommendations.
- All adults aged 19 through 59 years are recommended to receive the Hep B vaccine.
- Adults aged 60 years and older with known risk factors for Hep B may also receive the Hep B vaccine.
- CDC continues to recommend Hep B vaccination for all infants and unvaccinated children under the age of 19 years.
Fully implementing existing and new recommendations can reduce the burden of Hep B, while also moving toward the elimination of the virus in the United States.
Routine Hep B birth dose and infant vaccination recommendations:
- Resulted in decades of declining new Hep B infections in the United States.
- However, progress has stalled over the past 10 years due to an increase in new Hep B infections among adults.
- Also, the past decade demonstrated that the long-standing, risk-based Hep B vaccination strategy among adults was falling short.
- Currently a universal recommendation among adults, similar to existing universal recommendations among infants and children is needed.
Furthermore, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) conducted a thorough review based on a comprehensive assessment of the evidence for universal Hep B vaccination among adults, including an economic analysis, systematic literature review, and the factors summarized in an evidence-to-recommendation framework.
Once the committee completed the review:
- They concluded in November 2021 that universal adult Hep B vaccination of adults aged 59 years and younger provides advantages over the previous risk factor-based recommendations.
In addition, in a recent article, Assessing the cost-utility of universal Hep B vaccination among adults:
- The authors concluded that universal adult vaccination against Hep B may be an appropriate strategy for reducing hepatitis incidence and improving health outcomes and health equity
Please visit CDC’s viral hepatitis media newsroom for more information and resources that will help you and your colleagues implement Hep B vaccination.
Last Updated on June 9, 2022 by HepFree NYC
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