Editor’s Note: This report has been updated to reflect information on hepatitis B vaccines that became available after the video was recorded.
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Hello. I'm Dr Sandra Fryhofer. Welcome to Medicine Matters. The topic: the new hepatitis B vaccination recommendations for 2022. Here's why it matters.
Each year, more than 20,000 people in the United States contract acute hepatitis B, with healthcare costs of more than a billion dollars. As many as 40% of them have complications. Hepatitis B can lead to chronic hepatitis infection and liver cancer, and 15%-25% of those infected will die prematurely of cirrhosis or liver cancer. This is needless suffering and death.
Hepatitis B infection is vaccine preventable. We have several vaccine versions to choose from, and they work. The older, three-dose hepatitis B vaccine preparations are more than 90% protective. Immunity is durable, lasting at least three decades.
Two newer vaccines are now available, but only for those aged 18 or older. One of them, Heplisav, contains a new adjuvant, CpG 1018. Its two-dose series can be completed in just 1 month.
A new triple-target hepatitis B vaccine, PreHevbrio, was FDA-approved in December 2021. It requires three doses in a series and contains three hepatitis B antigens.
Hepatitis B
COMMENTARY
Why I Recommend Hepatitis B Vaccination to All My Patients
Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD
DisclosuresMay 03, 2022
Editor’s Note: This report has been updated to reflect information on hepatitis B vaccines that became available after the video was recorded.
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Hello. I'm Dr Sandra Fryhofer. Welcome to Medicine Matters. The topic: the new hepatitis B vaccination recommendations for 2022. Here's why it matters.
Each year, more than 20,000 people in the United States contract acute hepatitis B, with healthcare costs of more than a billion dollars. As many as 40% of them have complications. Hepatitis B can lead to chronic hepatitis infection and liver cancer, and 15%-25% of those infected will die prematurely of cirrhosis or liver cancer. This is needless suffering and death.
Hepatitis B infection is vaccine preventable. We have several vaccine versions to choose from, and they work. The older, three-dose hepatitis B vaccine preparations are more than 90% protective. Immunity is durable, lasting at least three decades.
Two newer vaccines are now available, but only for those aged 18 or older. One of them, Heplisav, contains a new adjuvant, CpG 1018. Its two-dose series can be completed in just 1 month.
A new triple-target hepatitis B vaccine, PreHevbrio, was FDA-approved in December 2021. It requires three doses in a series and contains three hepatitis B antigens.
Medscape Internal Medicine © 2022 WebMD, LLC
Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Sandra Adamson Fryhofer. Why I Recommend Hepatitis B Vaccination to All My Patients - Medscape - May 03, 2022.
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Authors and Disclosures
Authors and Disclosures
Author(s)
Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia; Past President, American College of Physicians
Disclosure: Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD, has disclosed the following relevant financial relationships:
Serve(d) as a director, officer, partner, employee, advisor, consultant, or trustee for: Member, Medical Association of Atlanta, Board of Directors (May 2016-present); Member, ACP Delegation to the American Medical Association (June 2000-present); AMA and ACP Liaison to ACIP, serving on Working Groups for HPV vaccine, influenza vaccine, pneumococcal vaccine, shingles vaccine, adult immunization schedule, and cholera vaccine; Medscape Advisory Board
Serve(d) as a speaker or a member of a speakers bureau for: ACP Speaker, "Immunization for Adults," ACP's Internal Medicine Meeting 2017 Scientific Program; Georgia Department of Public Health, "The Vaccinators – Move the Needle: Raise Adults Immunization Rates"
Received income in an amount equal to or greater than $250 from: WebMD/Medscape; Paid to write and host educational videos on adult immunization for ACP (2016; 2017); Private internal medicine practice