Vaccines: Hepatitis B

Background to this post
Other posts labeled Vaccines

All infants are inoculated at birth and at one month against Hepatitis B. Looking at the risk groups for this disease, one typically has to engage in a sexual act to be placed at risk for Hep B, or share drug needles with infected persons. The vaccine is effective for 23 years. "HBV is not spread through food or water, sharing eating utensils, breastfeeding, hugging, kissing, hand holding, coughing, or sneezing" (source).

I wonder if this vaccine was instituted for all children to protect children of drug users? Does a baby need this inoculation, especially at birth? What does this vaccine (and the preservatives included, which can be toxic chemicals) do to such a little baby? Since this appears to be a disease contracted through lifestyle choices, should a parent shield their child from the consequences of sin? Ryan and I wouldn't vaccinate ourselves or our kids against AIDS, should a vaccine arise. Why? We have no intention of placing ourselves at risk, and if we do, we should face the consequences of it. We believe the same goes for a disease like Hepatitis B. It's not an airborne disease that can be contracted in everyday life.

Interestingly, on the CDC website is the following statement at the very bottom of the page about the disease:

...administering the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine soon after birth to all infants acts as a safety net, reducing the risk for perinatal infection when maternal HBsAg status is either unknown or incorrectly documented at delivery. Also, initiating the hepatitis B vaccine series at birth has been shown to increase a child's likelihood of completing the vaccine series on schedule.

It is interesting that the two main reasons it's given is 1) they might not know if the mother is infected, so they protect the baby and 2) parents are more likely to return for further vaccinations. A CDC memo from 1999 states that the vaccine must be given to babies with mothers who are positive for Hep B and for those where it is unknown. However, seeing this on the mandatory schedule, it appears that now, ti's given all across the board no matter if the hospital knows the mother is negative.

From the CDC:

When vaccines that do not contain thimerosal as a preservative are not available, these groups should be vaccinated with thimerosal preservative-containing vaccine. For infants born to HBsAg-negative mothers and who are not in high-risk groups, existing recommendations should be used for administering thimerosal preservative-containing hepatitis B vaccines if vaccine that does not contain thimerosal as a preservative is not available.

Summary: Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, is a toxin. When the toxin-free vaccines aren't available, instead of opting to not vaccinate, they opt to administer a mecury-laced vaccine to a newborn. More alarming: those NOT AT RISK for contracting Hepatitis B should still receive a mecruy-laced vaccination.

Refuse, Accept or Postpone: Unless I become infected with Hepatitis B or our life changes to such an extent that we would be at risk, our children will not receive this vaccine.