Parents Need to Get Started on Schools' Hepatitis B Mandate

By TINA NGUYEN

Dec. 26, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The long list of mandated vaccines for public school pupils will grow next year, when seventh-graders will be required to be immunized against hepatitis B.

Under a state law that takes effect in July, students cannot enter, advance to or repeat the seventh grade if they have not received the vaccine. But that means parents must get started right away: The vaccine is given in three doses over a six-month period.

While the new law most directly targets incoming seventh-graders, school and health officials encourage parents to have their children immunized as soon as possible. The vaccine provides lifetime immunity.

“This is a priority,” said Patti Hachiya, head nurse for the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, which operates periodic immunization clinics for students. “The more kids receive the [three-shot] series, the better.”

A similar state law enacted last year also required that kindergartners receive the hepatitis B vaccine. The latest mandate is aimed at children who started school before then or have not been fully vaccinated.

Like Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified, other school districts and county health agencies are offering free or low-cost vaccinations to the public. The effort stems from legislation signed in October 1997 that adopted national immunization recommendations drafted by American pediatricians and family physicians. Similar regulations have been enacted in Florida, Colorado and other states.

“Most people in the U.S. acquire the hepatitis B virus during adolescence and young adulthood,” said Dr. James Watt, medical officer at the state Department of Health’s Immunization Branch. “The intent here is to protect people before they reach the high-risk ages of 15 to 35.”

Studies show that an estimated 200,000 people nationwide become infected with the virus yearly. Nearly half of those cases go undetected because many people do not show any symptoms, which include mild fever, fatigue, nausea, muscle and joint aches, vomiting and jaundice.

Hepatitis B is an infection of the liver caused by a virus present in blood and other body fluids. Up to 25% of those infected develop serious chronic liver disease.

An infected person can transmit hepatitis B as long as the virus remains in the blood. A small number of people will carry the virus for years and are known as chronic carriers. The virus can be transmitted by:

* Sexual activity with an infected person.

* Sharing intravenous needles, syringes or unsterile instruments used for tattooing, ear piercing, shaving or acupuncture with someone infected.

* Direct contact with infected blood on broken skin.

* Being born to an infected mother.

Previous immunization rules targeted only kindergartners, requiring that they receive hepatitis B shots, mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) vaccine and tetanus and diphtheria (Td) booster. The concern among public health officials was that too many older students were entering school systems without full vaccinations.

That’s why public health officials pushed for the latest law on hepatitis B. Officials also may require that seventh-graders receive a second dose of the MMR vaccine and Td booster.

A statewide assessment of seventh-grade immunizations will be conducted annually beginning next fall.

Summing up the importance of the new law, Watts said, “Getting young adults and adolescents to get their vaccines is very difficult. The hepatitis B vaccine is highly effective in preventing infection.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Where to Get Free Immunizations

Here’s a list of county-staffed clinics offering free pediatric immunizations, including those for hepatitis B. Parents and guardians must be present and should bring all immunization records. For more information about other free clinics, call your local school district or the Health Referral Line, (800) 564-8448.

ANAHEIM

* County Health Care Agency

2137 E. Ball Road

BUENA PARK

* County Health Care Agency

7342 Orangethorpe Ave.

COSTA MESA

* County Health Care Agency

2845 Mesa Verde Drive E.

FULLERTON

* First Lutheran Church

215 N. Lemon St.