Four-year-olds need to be on an empty stomach to get the hepatitis B vaccine

Children need to get the hepatitis B vaccine when they are about four years old. Some parents will ask whether they need to fast. Children do not need to fast when getting the hepatitis B vaccine. On the contrary, fasting is not good for children because fasting reduces children's resistance and sometimes they will have symptoms such as nausea and low fever. If you are checking liver function or doing blood tests, you need to fast. Let’s take a closer look at the question of whether a four-year-old needs to be on an empty stomach to get the hepatitis B vaccine.

No need to be on an empty stomach. Precautions for getting the hepatitis B vaccine: 1. Scope of use: Except for those who have been infected with the hepatitis B virus or are HBSAg positive, the hepatitis B vaccine can be used for injection immunization. It is especially suitable for children under 3 years old in areas with a high incidence of hepatitis B. The younger the age, the better the immune response (the immune response of those over 40 years old is biased). In addition, infants born to pregnant women who are HBSAg positive (especially HBSAg positive), hospital staff who are easily infected, and patients who receive blood transfusions or use blood products are also targets for hepatitis B vaccination.

Precautions for hepatitis B vaccine 2. Usage: Except for infants and young children, blood should be drawn for five hepatitis B tests before using the hepatitis B vaccine. It can only be used if HBSAg, anti-HBS, and anti-HBc are all negative. Infants should be injected with 30 micrograms each at birth (within 2 hours), 1 month and 6 months after birth. The vaccine should be administered into the deltoid muscle of the upper arm. Subcutaneous injection or vaccination in the buttocks can reduce the immune effect.

Precautions for hepatitis B vaccine 3. Contraindications: Hepatitis B vaccine cannot be administered at the same time as measles vaccine (because it can interfere with and delay antibody formation). The hepatitis B vaccine is an inactivated HBSAg protein and contains trace amounts of aluminum hydroxide, urea and formaldehyde. It is prohibited for use by people with a history of allergies, fever or severe acute or chronic diseases.

Precautions for getting hepatitis B vaccine 4. Check antibodies after hepatitis B vaccination: After three injections of the vaccine, the antibody status can be checked again four weeks later.

Hepatitis B vaccine is only used to prevent the occurrence of hepatitis B, but cannot eliminate the hepatitis B surface antigen already in the body. Therefore, even if HBSAg-positive people are vaccinated, the positive result cannot be turned into negative result. Some individuals may experience local pain, nausea, headache and short-term low fever.