Comparison of seroconversion rates between low-dose intradermal and recommended dose intramuscular hepatitis B vaccination in children

Abstract

Introduction Massive hepatitis B vaccination is expensive. Re- sults of studies showed that reduced dosage given intradermally to adults and intramuscularly to children were able to induce seroconversion. Objective To compare the anti-HBs seroconversion (seropositive and seroprotective) rates between intradermal low-dose of 2 mg (ID-2) and intramuscular recommended dose of 10 mg (IM-10) vaccination against hepatitis B. Methods In a randomized clinical trial, using the hepatitis B plasma vaccine, elementary school children in Tanjung Enim subdistrict, 80-168 months of age, were randomly assigned to be given three doses of either the ID-2 (n=59) or IM-10 (n=64) vaccinations at one month intervals. Seropositive (anti HBs titer >2.1 mIU/l) and seroprotective (anti HBs >10 mIU/l) rates as well as the seroposi- tive and seroprotective geometric mean antibody titers (GMTs) were compared one month after each inoculation. A p value of 0.1) Conclusion Reduced doses of the hepatitis B vaccine given in- tradermally may offer protection against hepatitis B, thus it may be useful for mass vaccination programs

Keywords

• Hepatitis B vaccination
• intradermal
• intramuscular
• seroconversion