At a glance
On March 31, 2022, CDC published recommendations for the hepatitis B vaccine. This letter to colleagues presents the recommendations and the rationale for the updates.
Dear Colleague
March 31, 2022
On March 31, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the updated hepatitis B vaccination recommendations that all adults aged 19 through 59 years receive the hepatitis B vaccine. Adults aged 60 years and older with known risk factors for hepatitis B may also receive the hepatitis B vaccine. CDC continues to recommend hepatitis B vaccination for all infants and unvaccinated children under the age of 19 years. Fully implementing existing and new recommendations can reduce the burden of hepatitis B, while also moving toward elimination of the virus in the United States.
Routine hepatitis B birth dose and infant vaccination recommendations resulted in decades of declining new hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections in the United States. Progress has stalled over the past 10 years due to an increase in new HBV infections among adults. The past decade demonstrated that the long-standing, risk-based hepatitis B vaccination strategy among adults was falling short, and that a universal recommendation among adults, similar to existing universal recommendations among infants and children, might be needed.
In this context, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) conducted a thorough review based on a comprehensive assessment of the evidence for universal hepatitis B vaccination among adults, including an economic analysis, systematic literature review, and the factors summarized in an evidence-to-recommendation framework. Once the committee completed the review, they concluded in November 2021 that universal adult hepatitis B vaccination of adults aged 59 years and younger provides advantages over the previous risk factor-based recommendations. In addition, in a recent article, Assessing the cost-utility of universal hepatitis B vaccination among adults, the authors concluded that universal adult vaccination against hepatitis B may be an appropriate strategy for reducing hepatitis incidence and improving health outcomes and health equity and released Universal Hepatitis B Vaccination in Adults Aged 19–59 Years: Updated Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — United States, 2022. Please visit CDC's viral hepatitis media newsroom for more information and resources that will help you and your colleagues implement.
We look forward to working with all of you to provide the tools necessary for health care providers and clinicians to implement these new recommendations. No single group can do this alone, and we thank each of you for your effort and commitment to viral hepatitis prevention, control, and elimination.
Thank you,
/Noele Nelson/
Noele Nelson, MD
Chief, Prevention Branch, Division of Viral Hepatitis
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/
/Carolyn Wester/
Carolyn Wester, MD
Director, Division of Viral Hepatitis
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/
/Jonathan Mermin/
Jonathan H. Mermin, MD, MPH
RADM and Assistant Surgeon General, USPHS
Director
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Stay connected: @DrMerminCDC & Connections