New vaccine recommendation if you have diabetes and are under 60
December 1, 2011 by Dr. Paul Hartlaub
Filed under Featured posts, Vaccines
On October 22 of this year, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted in favor of recommending the use of hepatitis B vaccine in adults under age 60 who have not yet been vaccinated for it. The recommendation is not considered official until it is in print, which is anticipated over the next weeks.
Why is ACIP making this recommendation? It is because adults under age 60 with diabetes are twice as likely to get Hepatitis B than those of the same age without diabetes.
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver and is spread through blood and other bodily fluids. It sometimes doesn’t cause much of a problem, but other times can be very serious, essentially destroying the liver. It may even lead to death.
People with diabetes use lancets to poke their fingers and test their blood sugar, and these lancets are at times used in an unsterile form, and may spread the virus.
It is OK for adults over age 60 with diabetes to get the vaccine if they so choose, but the risk of getting Hepatitis B is not increased in this group so it is not routinely recommended.
Children have had a routine recommendation for hepatitis B vaccine since 1991.
