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October 18, 2002

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS 

"Asian Adolescents Have Varying Degrees of HepB Vaccination Coverage" Infectious Diseases in Children (www.idinchildren.com) (09/02) Vol. 15, No. 9, P. 20; Stephenson, Michelle

Kenneth P. Moritsugu said at the 36th National Immunization Conference in Denver that eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities is a major aim of the Healthy People 2010 campaign. Even though Asian/Pacific Islanders account for about 50 percent of all hepatitis B (HBV) cases and fatalities in the United States, not all are vaccinated.  HBV infection is responsible for 80 percent of all liver cancer in the ethnic group.  Moritsugu feels that total viral load in the Asian/Pacific Islander community and transmission risk would be cut with a higher vaccination rate.  The three-dose series of HBV vaccine was received by 80 percent of children in the ethnic group by 1995. The major current initiative is to vaccinate children born before 1993.  Sixty-nine percent of the older children have already been vaccinated, with 90 percent being the goal by 2004.

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