Response rate to vaccination against Hepatitis B virus among health care workers at St. Dominic Hospital, Akwatia, Ghana

ABSTRACT

Background: Hepatitis B is a major contributor to the burden of infectious diseases worldwide. Many preventive measures havebeen employed, however, active immunization with hepatitis B vaccine remains the single most important hepatitis B preventionmeasure. WHO recommends that all health care workers (HCWs) should be vaccinated against HBV. However, proportions ofindividuals do not respond to the recommended standard three dose of HBV vaccination and remain susceptible to theinfection.Objectives: This study was to assess the response rate to vaccination against HBV among health care workers and todetermine predictors of non-response to HBV vaccine in HCWs. Methods and Materials A prospective study carried out at theSaint Dominic Hospital, Akwatia, involving 100 HCWs from 29th August, 2018 to 4th June, 2019. All the participants received thestandard protocol of 3 intramuscular injections of HBV vaccine (Engerix B) at 0, 1, and 6 months. Qualitative and quantitativeserum anti-HBs was determined 1-2 months after the last injection in order to detect the responders and non-responders.Results:Majority (54.0%) of the participants were males. The Median age of the study participants was 35 (29, 47) with age range of 20-65 years. Out of the 100 HCWs 90 (90%) were responders and 10 (10%) were non-responders to hepatitis B vaccine. Nonresponders had increased odds of being female, though this was not statistically significant (COR=1.47 (0.42 - 5.17).Conclusion:All HCWs should undergo confirmatory testing of immune response after completion of scheduled standard HBV immunization.This will ensure safety of all HCWs against HBV infection.