Hepatitis B is an inflammation of the liver caused by the hepatitis B virus.
Who should be vaccinated and when?
- Health care workers who have contact with blood and other body fluids.
- Dialysis patients – individuals who receive blood washing due to kidney dysfunction.
- Residents and caregivers of facilities for the elderly or people with disabilities.
- First responders
- Police officers
- Drug addicts
- Inmates of correctional institutions
- Homosexual persons
- Persons with frequently changing sexual partners
- Persons with regular administration of blood or blood products
- Persons before extensive surgical interventions
- Persons with contact with persons infected with hepatitis B.
- Persons prior to travel to areas with high prevalence of hepatitis B.
- Children and adolescents under 18 years
In all the above groups of people should be given three vaccinations(= basic immunization); respectively, the first vaccination at time zero, the second vaccination after one month and the third vaccination after six months. In infants, the first vaccination is started in the third month of life. In children, the vaccination should be carried out in the eleventh to twelfth year of life.
After completion of the basic immunization, it is recommended to check the vaccination status by means of a blood test for hepatitis B antibodies (anti-HBs titers) (see below: Vaccination status).
Who should not be vaccinated?
Side effects / vaccination reactions
- Local reactions around the injection site
Vaccination status – checking vaccination titers
After completion of basic immunization, it is recommended to check the vaccination status based on a blood test for hepatitis B antibodies (anti-HBs titers):
| Vaccination | Laboratory parameters | Value | Rating |
| Hepatitis B | Hepatitis B antibody(anti-HBs titer) | <10 IU/l | Insufficient vaccine protection detectable → Another dose is required |
| 10-100 IU/l | Regular checkup every three to six months | ||
| > 100 IU/l | After 10 years, booster vaccination should be given to persons who remain at high risk for infection such as health care workers |
Postexposure prophylaxis
Postexposure prophylaxis is the provision of medication to prevent disease in persons who are not protected against a particular disease by vaccination but have been exposed to it:
- Persons after injury with objects that may contain pathogens, such as needles or scalpels, should be vaccinated immediately and receive hepatitis B immunoglobulin – antibodies to hepatitis B virus – at the same time
- Newborns of hepatitis B-positive mothers are given a dose of hepatitis B immunoglobulin immediately after birth. The complete basic immunization is then carried out in the first year of life.
