Among people who have HIV and are susceptible to contracting hepatitis B virus, too few individuals are getting vaccinated, despite the population’s high rate of new infections. Researchers relied on 2009 to 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey data as well as medical records about a nationally representative sample of 18,000 people living with the virus. The study authors considered 7,890 members (44 percent) of the population to be candidates for hep B vaccination because they did not have documentation of having received the vaccine, immunity to the virus or actual infection. During a one-year surveillance period, 780 (9.5 percent) of these individuals at least started the multidose hep B vaccination. A total of 440 of the remaining participants showed signs of new immunity to hep B during the surveillance period, and 125 tested positive for the virus. This left 6,540 (83 percent) of the overall group of vaccine candidates who still had not received a vaccination.
Concerns: Lax on HBV Vax
People living with HIV are not getting vaccinated for hepatitis B.
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