Vaccines & Vaccination

Biography

Biography: Frederic

Abstract

Background: Vaccination is a key current prophylactic measure for occupational risk of Hepatitis B infection, particularly to protect workers from acquiring this disease during occupational high-risk exposure. The aim of this cross sectional study was to determinate the Hepatitis B distribution in a group of workers, regarding their level of risk exposure. Methodology: A second study was conducted during a year on a representative sample of a miscellaneous population group of workers (1000). Data concerning Hepatitis B vaccination were obtained from medical and occupational files. Therefore, a distribution of jobs leading to high, medium, and low-risk to be contaminated by Hepatitis B was established. Results: The high-risk group is predominant (45% of the whole population studied) whose 59,25% were vaccinated, 18,5% unvaccinated and 22,2% had an unknown status. A quarter of the medium exposure group (13% of the whole population) was vaccinated. Half of the low-risk exposure group (40% of the whole population) was immunized. Discussion: Among the population studied, we found a quite low adherence to the Hepatitis B’s vaccination in the medium and low occupational risk exposure groups. In the context of the relatively low vaccination coverage rate in Europe, our results suggest that it seems desirable to promote a list of mandatory vaccinations including Hepatitis B and regarding to job practices. Moreover, education of workers about vaccination will improve their behaviour toward it and its coverage.