How does a vaccination with Twinrix work?
The vaccination is used for young people from the age of 16. The injection is made on the upper arm in the large deltoid muscle, preferably on the side that is not used for writing. In other words, if you are right-handed, the vaccination is administered into the left upper arm.
The potential injection site is inspected to see if it is suitable. Then it is disinfected and the disinfection time is observed. Further the deltoid muscle is slightly held together and punctured by the vaccinating person.
First the syringe is tightened to check if a blood vessel has not been hit. If this is not the case, the injection may be performed. At the end, the puncture site is covered with a plaster. The vaccination should not be carried out if an allergic reaction to Twinrix® has already occurred, or an allergic reaction to other preparations which were aimed at hepatitis A or B. Furthermore, vaccination should not be carried out if there is a current infection with fever above 38°C.
How often must I be vaccinated?
Since the vaccination is a dead vaccine, as mentioned above, the single vaccination is not sufficient for complete protection against the diseases. For this reason, a vaccination three times in a period of 6 months has achieved a good result. On an agreed date in case of infection free patients the first vaccination is given, the second vaccination one month later and the third and last vaccination 6 months after the first one.
In adults it is possible to spread the vaccination doses over one month. However, this is only for people who need a quick vaccination protection, such as long-distance travellers. Here the first vaccination is given on the agreed date, the second after 7 days and the third on the 21st day after the first dose.
Afterwards, with this vaccination scheme, a fourth vaccination is recommended after 12 months. The basic rule is that after 3 doses of vaccine there is sufficient immunity to hepatitis A and B.However, it is always possible to determine a so-called titer for the respective immunization. When used as a blood test, this gives information about the sufficient protection.
If, according to the definition, sufficient protection is not guaranteed, the vaccination should be refreshed. Basically, the hepatitis A protection, the recommendation of the Standing Commission on Vaccination (STIKO), is valid for 10 years. The protection against hepatitis B is given for 15 years, a further vaccination recommendation after 15 years does not currently exist.
