States requiring HAV vaccination for school, child care have higher completion rates
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Children who live in states that require them to be vaccinated against hepatitis A virus before entering school or child care are more likely to initiate and complete HAV vaccination, according to data presented at IDWeek.
These policies can help prevent or control HAV outbreaks, Merck’s Yoonyoung Choi, PhD, MS, RPh, and colleagues said.
In a cross-sectional cohort study, Choi and colleagues assessed data collected by the National Immunization Survey between 2008 and 2017 regarding children aged 19 to 35 months and adolescents aged 13 to 17 years in states with HAV vaccination requirements for child care, school entry or both.
“Multiple large hepatitis A virus outbreaks occurred in the past decade,” Choi told Healio. “Children often do not have symptoms, but asymptomatic children have been associated with hepatitis A virus transmission in past outbreaks. Despite the fact that hepatitis A vaccines are included on the CDC’s recommended vaccination schedule, hepatitis A vaccination coverage is lower compared to other pediatric and adolescent vaccines.”
The researchers included 150,653 children and 119,265 adolescents in their evaluation. According to the study, in states that require HAV vaccination to enter child care, the HAV vaccination rate was 53.9% before the implementation of the mandates compared with 72.6% afterward. In states requiring HAV vaccination for entry to school, the rates were 48.3% and 74.9% in the pre- and post-intervention periods, respectively. The rates were 48.2% and 83.9% before and after interventions in states that require both.
“The study found that states with child care and/or school entry requirements for hepatitis A vaccination are associated with higher hepatitis A vaccination initiation and completion for children and adolescents compared to those without such policy,” Choi said. “States without such policies should consider the value of implementing similar requirements.”
Choi noted that although the study did not include a qualitative assessment of the attitudes and/or beliefs of parents or caregivers, the ages of the study population may “play a pivotal role in choosing whether or not to vaccinate in response to the states’ vaccination requirement.”
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Choi Y, et al. Abstract 161. Presented at: IDWeek; Oct. 21-25, 2020 (virtual meeting).
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