Success of Mass Vaccination of Infants Against Hepatitis B
- 11 December 1996
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in JAMA
- Vol. 276 (22) , 1802-1803
- https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1996.03540220026021
Abstract
To the Editor. —Dr Chen and colleagues1report that a program of routine hepatitis B vaccination has made a large impact on the seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) among a selected group of children attending school and clinics on Taiwan. We performed a similar survey over the same time period on population-based samples of 3- to 4-year-old children on Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. On Saipan, the prevalence of HBsAg among pregnant women is 7.5%, compared with 16% to 18% cited by Chen et al on Taiwan. In 1984, a hepatitis serosurvey was conducted before the introduction of hepatitis B vaccine. The island of Saipan was divided into numerous sectors of approximately equal population, and all households within randomly chosen sectors were sampled. This sample yielded data on 124 children aged 3 to 4 years.Keywords
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