Did your Hep B Vaccine Take?

[jmjm530]

My series of Hep B vaccines did not take.

This the third time I've had the series, and while the first two times I might have missed the third shot -- this time I got all three shots within the required time period.

Wondering what the collective experience here is on the Hep B vaccine. Did it take after the first series? After the second series? Did you have a third series? Did you double dose at some point?

I'm guessing the next step is the doc will double-dose the vaccine -- either that or tell me to forget about it.

-- Jim

[mremeet]

I just had my HBV vaccination completed last summer (condensed 3 shots within a month). I don't know if mine took or not, guess I should have that checked. The nurse who gave the shots did inform me though that in recent years it has been learned that the amount of anti-HBV antibodies required for protection are considerably lower than what used to be considered "safe" (i.e. protective). She said that it was found that those even with UND HBV antibodies (ab's resulting from vaccination) which occurred as their vaccinations were "old" were still protected from HBV infection. For this reason she told me that the usual HBV vaccination protection duration has been extended much longer than had originally been thought possible when the HBV vaccine was first developed and used (I believe about 10-20 years ago?). She told me that I would be protected for 10 years and that I should investigate what is known about HBV vaccinations after that time to see if the knowledge base on the subject dictates coverage even longer than that. She said it might even be possible I would be protected for life, but she could not attest that with any certainty.

I never looked into what she told me to verify its veracity, but she did seem like a sharp nurse. Anyway, something to consider if you have what might be considered marginal antibody levels to a possibly outdated standard. If HR reads this maybe he can clue us in about it too.