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http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/444276?mpid=6225&WebLogicSession=PeQPw3gfmzo5bBpoGM10tXZ8h6V4pLOERuKcjcEHn8vgLnbnmsO4|1220433169361888838/184161392/6/7001/7001/7002/7002/7001/-1

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Nov 08 - Since the 1995 recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that all unvaccinated 11- and 12-year-old children should be immunized against hepatitis B, rates of vaccination among adolescents in the US have increased, according to a report in the November issue of Pediatrics.

Despite the increase in uptake, the US still has some way to go to reach the US Department of Health's goal of 90% coverage rates by 2010, study author Dr. Mehran S. Massoudi, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues note.

In the current study, Dr. Massoudi's team evaluated hepatitis B vaccination coverage levels among 13-year-olds enrolled in three large health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Coverage levels in 1996 were compared with those in 1998.

At all of the HMOs, the percentage of adolescents who had received all three hepatitis B vaccine doses increased from 1996 to 1998. In fact, at one HMO, coverage levels increased nearly fivefold from 5.5% to 25.7%. In 1998, coverage levels at the HMOs ranged from 25.7% to 65.5%.

The current findings suggest that the ACIP recommendations are being followed, the author state. Still, even the best coverage rate achieved suggests that more effective vaccine strategies may be needed to achieve the 2010 goal, they add.

Pediatrics 2002;110:929-934.

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