What are the benefits of the hepatitis B vaccine?

The hepatitis B vaccine (HBV) protects your child against the hepatitis B virus, which can lead to liver damage and even death.

Hepatitis B is generally considered an adult disease because it's known to be transmitted through unsafe sex and shared needles. But many who get it, including children, don't engage in these "high-risk" behaviors. They're either infected at birth or they contract the disease from close contact during childhood with others who are infected.

Hepatitis B is highly infectious. An estimated 800,000 to 1.4 million people in the United States have the virus, and 20 to 30 percent of them acquired the disease in childhood. Many of them never feel sick and don't know they have it, but those who become infected as children are more likely to have long-term health problems such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. About 2,000 to 4,000 Americans die from hepatitis B-related illness every year.

The HBV vaccine was introduced in 1982 and became part of the recommended immunization schedule in the United States in 1991. Since then, the incidence of acute hepatitis B has dropped by over 95 percent in children and adolescents, and over 75 percent overall. The number of new infections per year has declined from an average of 260,000 in the 1980s to about 43,000 in 2007, with the biggest decline among children and adolescents.

What's the recommended schedule?

Recommended number of doses
Three shots.

Recommended ages
• At birth
• Between 1 and 2 months
• Between 6 and 18 months

Women in the United States are screened for hepatitis B during pregnancy. If you test positive, your baby should get an injection of hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG), which provides short-term protection, within 12 hours of birth.