GIVE BABIES HEPATITIS B VACCINE, URGES MAC PROFESSOR
by Vivien Fellegi

The Hamilton Spectator
February 10, 2009 Tuesday
Canada

McMaster University researchers are urging Canada to adopt universal
hepatitis B immunization in infancy.

A comprehensive new analysis of existing studies supports the hepatitis
B vaccination for all Canadian babies, says Dr. Christopher Mackie,
an assistant professor of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics at
Mac and the associate Medical Officer of Health at Hamilton Public
Health Services.

Mackie and his Mac colleagues, as well as researchers at the University
of British Columbia who helped carry out the analysis, also noted
that B.C. medical data show the success of that province’s infancy
vaccination program.

That’s why the Canadian Liver Foundation supports their recommendation
and is urging all of Canada to implement universal hepatitis B
vaccination for infants.

The analysis and recommendations were published in a recent issue of
the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Foundation chairman Dr. Kevork Peltekian said, "This is an excellent
study taking us in the right direction."

Chronic hepatitis B, a viral disease of the liver, affects about
300,000 Canadians, said Peltekian. But it is preventable through
vaccination. Currently, adolescents in Grade 7 are routinely vaccinated
in Ontario. But infants are still vulnerable.

Many people think hepatitis B can only be passed to children during
pregnancy or to adults through injected drugs or sexual contact,
said Mackie. So they don’t see any reason to vaccinate children,
said Peltekian.

But the problem is that kids can contract it in their homes,
neighbourhoods and schools. The virus can be passed through a bite
or even by a kiss landing on a cut, he said.

The majority of adults recover fully from the illness, said
Mackie. Only 1 to 5 per cent of them will carry the hepatitis B virus
in their blood and body fluids permanently, said Mackie.

However, the situation is very different for children, said Mackie.

Unlike adults, children find it much harder to shake off the virus. Up
to 90 cent of kids with hepatitis B will be stuck with it permanently,
meaning they could suffer complications such as liver failure and
liver cancer, said Mackie.

"It’s one of the reasons it’s important to protect infants."

Besides safeguarding individual children, immunizing everyone makes
it harder for the virus to spread from person to person. This results
in a collective protection called herd immunity, said Mackie.

Once patients have contracted chronic hepatitis B, they can be treated
with drugs. But while the therapies control the virus, "they are
unable to get rid of it and are quite expensive," said Peltekian.

He said the vaccine has few if any side-effects, and the cost of
giving the vaccine at birth "is not different whether you’re giving
it at adolescence (or) at birth."

Peltekian said there may even be some savings because nurses won’t
be required to give vaccines at schools.

Any infancy vaccination program must be approved by the National
Advisory Committee on Immunization.

The Canadian Liver Foundation hopes the new study will bolster the
case for universal hepatitis B vaccination for infants.