11 ms·

The current version of hepatitis A grants immunity for life after the second dose. Those 2 doses are exactly the same and it was thought that they should be ta

by bertolo1988 9y ago

The current version of hepatitis A grants immunity for life after the second dose. Those 2 doses are exactly the same and it was thought that they should be taken 6 months to 2 years after each other. A recent study says that the second dose could still grant immunity for life even if it is taken 5 years after the first dose. It is a super effective vaccine! They also last for a very long time in a normal fridge. Why isn't it included in normal vaccination plans? It looks like there is something controlling the supply and we are paying with human lives all over the world.

tome 9y ago
> The current version of hepatitis A grants immunity for life "The current version of hepatitis A vaccine", presumably.
- userbinator 9y ago
  The disease itself too, once you recover from it. That's how vaccinations and the immune system work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A "After a single infection, a person is immune for the rest of his or her life.[8]"
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    You realize this pedantry is incompatible with the "second dose" in the initial comment?
- bertolo1988 9y ago
  I wanted to say vaccine! Sorry.
Filligree 9y ago
I don't know if this is still the case, but back when I grew up the answer was that it was made from live virus, so there was a (tiny) chance of getting the actual disease if you got it. Therefore it was only given to populations already at risk of infection, e.g. nurses.
- protomyth 9y ago
  I remember the same. Our Early Childhood staff got the vaccine unless they had a liver (could be kidney, it has been 20 years) problem. Office staff were not given the vaccine because there was a risk. Things, obviously, could have changed.
- Xylakant 9y ago
  I’m not a nurse and I have both Hep A and B vaccinations. At least in Germany you can get if you ask for it.
  - Filligree 9y ago
    That was also the case in Norway. It just wasn't automatic. The risk was really tiny anyway. Even if you did get infected, it was unlikely to cause any damage. But going from other comments in the thread it's not the same vaccine that is used today, so I expect they fixed the problem.
    - Xylakant 9y ago
      I’d be surprised if it was a live vaccine, due to a medical condition I usually don’t get them. And Wikipedia to the rescue https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A_vaccine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A_vaccine, it’s inactivated virus cultures.
      - Filligree 9y ago
        Same page says one of the ones still in use is in fact attenuated live virus. I'm not remotely surprised it's not commonly in use in the west, though.
tryingagainbro 9y ago
>>the second dose could still grant immunity for life even if it is taken 5 years after the first dose. It is a super effective vaccine! Why shouldn't USA--as in the FedGov--make such vaccines 100% free for everyone, a child or a 55 year old? An ounce of prevention and all....maybe subsidize them, pay cost only. Personally I went to a private clinic and paid for them, but it was hundreds and hundreds. Not everyone can afford them and when you 80 million (or whatever) vaccines, the price can come down.
- zghst 9y ago
  Usually children are heavily vaccinated, not adults. However, the costs of vaccines are usually covered by insurance. Additionally the federal gov't provides a program called CHIP that ensures millions of children (8.9 million kids covered 2016) in lower income households receive proper immunization.
  - tryingagainbro 9y ago
    That leaves or left a nice chunk out of it, the middle class (pre- Obama care at least). Also let's not forget that a lot of immigrants come in USA with patchy vaccination history.
    - zghst 9y ago
      The middle class make up the majority of 155 million Americans covered by employer-based coverage. Immigrants that come into the country (legally) are required by law to have received or receive vaccinations listed by the gov't. Health and preventing health issues is not the responsibility of the government, but individual.
      - tryingagainbro 9y ago
        Health and preventing health issues is not the responsibility of the government, but individual. Sure, says who? USA takes "26 percent of gross domestic product" in taxes http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxes-compare-internationally http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxes... , so the govt can't just take. And USA pays for liver transplants, disability and loss in productivity. Not to mention that US made healthcare its business with Obamacare. >>Immigrants that come into the country (legally) are required by law to have received or receive vaccinations listed by the gov't. For $10 the Sudan (++++) authorities will give you any vaccination record the US Embassy requires
maxlybbert 9y ago
It's a relatively new vaccine (from the late '90s) and, in the US, the main reason people get vaccinated is to attend school, so anyone who was able to attend school before the late '90s wouldn't have been vaccinated without going out of their way (perhaps for international travel, which is why I was vaccinated -- in the late '90s). Additionally, hepatitis outbreaks are associated with sanitation problems. Chicken pox, measles, mumps, etc. are associated with putting many people close together, like in a school, so it took a while to add hepatitis to vaccination schedules. It's also true that many people believe the vaccination wouldn't be necessary if we could just get people to pay attention to sanitation, so there is some opposition along the lines of "if we require this vaccine, we're admitting defeat as far as a clean society is concerned."
- thinkcontext 9y ago
  Hep A vaccine is required in less than half of states to attend school, CA not being one. http://www.immunize.org/laws/hepa.asp http://www.immunize.org/laws/hepa.asp
  - maxlybbert 9y ago
    Thank you. I haven't paid much attention to what vaccines my kids have, so I really have no idea if they are vaccinated against hepatitis. I remember being surprised that chicken pox was on the list of required vaccinations, but I eventually got over that (incidentally, after I made comments on Hacker News about that vaccine being silly).
  - brianwawok 9y ago
    Hey I finally found something Indiana was progressive with
Xeoncross 9y ago
> The current version of hepatitis A [vaccine] grants immunity for life after the second dose. Wait, this makes it sound fool-proof. I know it's supposed to do this, but how successful is this vaccine at actually doing this for __% of the population?
- Xylakant 9y ago
  95% for at least 15 years, jo numbers given on lifelong immunity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A_vaccine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A_vaccine
rabboRubble 9y ago
40+ F here... a couple of years ago I got "serious" about my health. I had been generally healthy and slacking for the last decades. I made sure all my vaccinations were up to date. Out of all medical related tasks, getting the HEPA/B vaccines were the biggest fight. I had to argue with my primary care doctor for them. I also had to fight the insurance company for them. The primary care doctor relented after I stated "these vaccines are on the CDC recommended list of vaccines for all healthy adults over the age of X. I do not understand why you are rejecting the idea. It seems contrary to good public health policy." She put in the request uncertain if the insurance company would authorize but I got the first shot so I assumed the troubles were over. Wrong... Come time to get the 2nd shot of 3 (I think the combined A/B vaccine is a 3 part shot IDK), the care team tells me "we are not sure if we can give you the 2nd shot because the insurance provider rejected the first shot request". Why they didn't tell me right away, no idea. So we danced around for a while, and I finally asked how much the entire series of shots were. They didn't know. Is is $100 or $1000? I tell them if it's $100 I'll just pay for it myself, far cheaper than hospitalization. I guess after some embarrassment on their part, I get the 2nd shot without paying and don't hear about the problems between the doctor office and the insurance company again. I ask before the 3rd shot if the issues got cleared and I heard nothing. Haven't been billed either so I am assuming all is well. Sooooooo.... while homeless population increases, publicly accessible toilets and sinks disappear, plastic shopping bags are outlawed, my by experience doctors and insurance companies have been dissuading people from getting vaccine protections. We are surprised a dirty unsanitary society with a shitty healthcare system has disease outbreaks? I am not, not at all. It's why I fought so hard for the vaccinations. I would get the a HEPc vaccine if there was one available.
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  Thank you for doing your part!

tome 9y ago

> The current version of hepatitis A grants immunity for life "The current version of hepatitis A vaccine", presumably.

userbinator 9y ago
The disease itself too, once you recover from it. That's how vaccinations and the immune system work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A "After a single infection, a person is immune for the rest of his or her life.[8]"
- maxerickson 9y ago
  You realize this pedantry is incompatible with the "second dose" in the initial comment?
bertolo1988 9y ago
I wanted to say vaccine! Sorry.

Filligree 9y ago

I don't know if this is still the case, but back when I grew up the answer was that it was made from live virus, so there was a (tiny) chance of getting the actual disease if you got it. Therefore it was only given to populations already at risk of infection, e.g. nurses.

protomyth 9y ago
I remember the same. Our Early Childhood staff got the vaccine unless they had a liver (could be kidney, it has been 20 years) problem. Office staff were not given the vaccine because there was a risk. Things, obviously, could have changed.
Xylakant 9y ago
I’m not a nurse and I have both Hep A and B vaccinations. At least in Germany you can get if you ask for it.
- Filligree 9y ago
  That was also the case in Norway. It just wasn't automatic. The risk was really tiny anyway. Even if you did get infected, it was unlikely to cause any damage. But going from other comments in the thread it's not the same vaccine that is used today, so I expect they fixed the problem.
  - Xylakant 9y ago
    I’d be surprised if it was a live vaccine, due to a medical condition I usually don’t get them. And Wikipedia to the rescue https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A_vaccine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A_vaccine, it’s inactivated virus cultures.
    - Filligree 9y ago
      Same page says one of the ones still in use is in fact attenuated live virus. I'm not remotely surprised it's not commonly in use in the west, though.

tryingagainbro 9y ago

>>the second dose could still grant immunity for life even if it is taken 5 years after the first dose. It is a super effective vaccine! Why shouldn't USA--as in the FedGov--make such vaccines 100% free for everyone, a child or a 55 year old? An ounce of prevention and all....maybe subsidize them, pay cost only. Personally I went to a private clinic and paid for them, but it was hundreds and hundreds. Not everyone can afford them and when you 80 million (or whatever) vaccines, the price can come down.

zghst 9y ago
Usually children are heavily vaccinated, not adults. However, the costs of vaccines are usually covered by insurance. Additionally the federal gov't provides a program called CHIP that ensures millions of children (8.9 million kids covered 2016) in lower income households receive proper immunization.
- tryingagainbro 9y ago
  That leaves or left a nice chunk out of it, the middle class (pre- Obama care at least). Also let's not forget that a lot of immigrants come in USA with patchy vaccination history.
  - zghst 9y ago
    The middle class make up the majority of 155 million Americans covered by employer-based coverage. Immigrants that come into the country (legally) are required by law to have received or receive vaccinations listed by the gov't. Health and preventing health issues is not the responsibility of the government, but individual.
    - tryingagainbro 9y ago
      Health and preventing health issues is not the responsibility of the government, but individual. Sure, says who? USA takes "26 percent of gross domestic product" in taxes http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxes-compare-internationally http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxes... , so the govt can't just take. And USA pays for liver transplants, disability and loss in productivity. Not to mention that US made healthcare its business with Obamacare. >>Immigrants that come into the country (legally) are required by law to have received or receive vaccinations listed by the gov't. For $10 the Sudan (++++) authorities will give you any vaccination record the US Embassy requires

maxlybbert 9y ago

It's a relatively new vaccine (from the late '90s) and, in the US, the main reason people get vaccinated is to attend school, so anyone who was able to attend school before the late '90s wouldn't have been vaccinated without going out of their way (perhaps for international travel, which is why I was vaccinated -- in the late '90s). Additionally, hepatitis outbreaks are associated with sanitation problems. Chicken pox, measles, mumps, etc. are associated with putting many people close together, like in a school, so it took a while to add hepatitis to vaccination schedules. It's also true that many people believe the vaccination wouldn't be necessary if we could just get people to pay attention to sanitation, so there is some opposition along the lines of "if we require this vaccine, we're admitting defeat as far as a clean society is concerned."

thinkcontext 9y ago
Hep A vaccine is required in less than half of states to attend school, CA not being one. http://www.immunize.org/laws/hepa.asp http://www.immunize.org/laws/hepa.asp
- maxlybbert 9y ago
  Thank you. I haven't paid much attention to what vaccines my kids have, so I really have no idea if they are vaccinated against hepatitis. I remember being surprised that chicken pox was on the list of required vaccinations, but I eventually got over that (incidentally, after I made comments on Hacker News about that vaccine being silly).
- brianwawok 9y ago
  Hey I finally found something Indiana was progressive with

Xeoncross 9y ago

> The current version of hepatitis A [vaccine] grants immunity for life after the second dose. Wait, this makes it sound fool-proof. I know it's supposed to do this, but how successful is this vaccine at actually doing this for __% of the population?

Xylakant 9y ago
95% for at least 15 years, jo numbers given on lifelong immunity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A_vaccine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A_vaccine

rabboRubble 9y ago

40+ F here... a couple of years ago I got "serious" about my health. I had been generally healthy and slacking for the last decades. I made sure all my vaccinations were up to date. Out of all medical related tasks, getting the HEPA/B vaccines were the biggest fight. I had to argue with my primary care doctor for them. I also had to fight the insurance company for them. The primary care doctor relented after I stated "these vaccines are on the CDC recommended list of vaccines for all healthy adults over the age of X. I do not understand why you are rejecting the idea. It seems contrary to good public health policy." She put in the request uncertain if the insurance company would authorize but I got the first shot so I assumed the troubles were over. Wrong... Come time to get the 2nd shot of 3 (I think the combined A/B vaccine is a 3 part shot IDK), the care team tells me "we are not sure if we can give you the 2nd shot because the insurance provider rejected the first shot request". Why they didn't tell me right away, no idea. So we danced around for a while, and I finally asked how much the entire series of shots were. They didn't know. Is is $100 or $1000? I tell them if it's $100 I'll just pay for it myself, far cheaper than hospitalization. I guess after some embarrassment on their part, I get the 2nd shot without paying and don't hear about the problems between the doctor office and the insurance company again. I ask before the 3rd shot if the issues got cleared and I heard nothing. Haven't been billed either so I am assuming all is well. Sooooooo.... while homeless population increases, publicly accessible toilets and sinks disappear, plastic shopping bags are outlawed, my by experience doctors and insurance companies have been dissuading people from getting vaccine protections. We are surprised a dirty unsanitary society with a shitty healthcare system has disease outbreaks? I am not, not at all. It's why I fought so hard for the vaccinations. I would get the a HEPc vaccine if there was one available.

toomuchtodo 9y ago
Thank you for doing your part!