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Why Your Baby Really Does Need The Hepatitis B Vaccine

by — 2019-12-31 in Lymphatic & Endocrine system
Hepatitis B, a serious liver infection, can cause permanent liver damage and even death. The hepatitis B vaccine stands in its way. Yes, your baby needs to be immunized against hepatitis B — and here's why it's important for that to happen during infancy.

Hepatitis B is not, we all know, an infection anyone would welcome with open arms. This highly infectious virus, transmitted through contact with infected blood, semen, and other bodily fluids emitting from mucus membranes like the eyes or mouth, comes in both acute and chronic manifestations. Though the acute form can clear up on its own, a chronic hep B infection sticks around for life, increasing sufferers' risk of liver cancer, cirrhosis, and death. 

Hepatitis B is bad news, to put it succinctly. The one great thing about it is that there's a safe and effective vaccine. 

The CDC strongly recommends that all infants receive this vaccine. Not all parents are convinced that their fresh, tiny, babies need to be vaccinated against hepatitis B, though. When I was a new mom, a small but particularly vocal portion of my local mom group would rant and rave against these particular shots, smugly declaring that you get hep B through risky sex — and since their infants weren't gonna be doing that any time soon, they didn't need this vaccine (yet). 

I'll give it to them; it sounds logical enough at first glance. Sex isn't the only way a person can contact hepatitis B, however, and the hepatitis B pediatric vaccine features on immunization schedules for good reason. What do you need to know?

How might children contract hepatitis B?

Over two million children under five years old are infected with hepatitis B across the globe each year. Most children who contract hepatitis B do so because they were born to infected mothers — who may not have any symptoms and could be completely unaware that they have hepatitis B at all. While pregnant women attending prenatal care are routinely screened for hepatitis B in developed countries, this is not true everywhere. Women who opt for midwifery care, particularly with a lay midwife, may also miss out on this screening. 

Other ways in which a child may become infected with hepatitis B include:

  • Through contact with personal care items — like toothbrushes, razors, and nail clippers — also used by an infected person. Since these items may contain droplets of blood and hepatitis B can survive outside the human body for up to seven days, things like one nail-cutting session gone wrong can result in an infection. 
  • Being bitten by a child with hepatitis B, if the bite draws blood. This can happen in daycare settings, but also at public parks, playgrounds, or anywhere where children play together. While rare, it's possible. 
  • Attending unsafe medical settings, such as first-aid stations, acupuncture clinics, or dental practices — obviously, more of a risk in less developed nations where medical care is not tightly regulated or regulations are not enforced strictly. 
  • In some cases, through blood transfusions, though donated blood is routinely tested for hepatitis B in most countries. 
  • A little later in life, by getting piercings or tattoos in unsanitary conditions, or using IV and intranasal drugs.
  • No parent wants to think about it, but hepatitis B can also be transmitted sexually — at any age.  
  • Let's throw in some really unlikely scenarios, too, like you're at the ER with your child who's just been in a bike accident and is bleeding, and is exposed to someone with hepatitis B who is also bleeding in the waiting room. 

No matter how small the risk that a child will get hepatitis B is, the risk exists. That risk will grow as your child gets older — by the time they're a teen, they're most likely to get hepatitis B in all the same ways adults do. If they weren't vaccinated, that is. 

When a baby or young child contracts hepatitis B, the risk of chronic infection is higher

Hepatitis B comes in both an acute and a chronic form. Acute hepatitis B is the initial stage. For many people, the infection ends there, as the hepatitis B virus clears from the body within about six months. In some, however, hepatitis B becomes chronic. At that point, a person will have hepatitis B for life, and is at risk of all the complications it can cause, including liver cancer and cirrhosis. 

The risk of chronic infection varies with age. While only about five percent of previously healthy adults who contract hepatitis B will go on to have chronic hepatitis B, somewhere between 25 and 50 percent of children aged one to five will develop chronic hepatitis B. The situation is even scarier for babies under 12 months old — a shocking 90 percent of those who initially have acute hepatitis B will develop the chronic form of the disease, too. 

What do you need to know about the pediatric hepatitis B vaccine?

In the US, the Centers for Disease Control recommend that all infants are immunized against hepatitis B. Babies need three doses for the best protection. The first shot is administered soon after they're born, usually within the first 12 hours. When their mother has hepatitis B, a baby will also be given hep B immune globulin to further reduce the risk they will have hepatitis B. The second dose comes along when your baby is between a month and two months old, while the final dose is given between six and 18 months. 

Shots are painful for babies, yes, but they're over in a second. Though the vaccine can cause a sore arm (near the injection site) and a slight fever as well as more serious side effects in rare cases, the hepatitis B vaccine is, on the whole, very safe and effective. The small risks associated with the vaccine pale in comparison to the nasty things a hepatitis B infection can do to the body. 

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  • Photo courtesy of SteadyHealth

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