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The Conversation
The Conversation
David Higgins, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Hepatitis B shot for newborns has nearly eliminated childhood infections with this virus in the US

About 80% of parents currently choose to follow CDC guidelines to vaccinate their babies for hepatitis B at birth. timnewman/iStock via Getty Images Plus
Graphic saying '95% Drop in U.S. childhood hepatitis B infections since 1991, when routine infant vaccination began'
The Conversation, CC BY-ND

Before the United States began vaccinating all infants at birth with the hepatitis B vaccine in 1991, around 18,000 children every year contracted the virus before their 10th birthday – about half of them at birth. About 90% of that subset developed a chronic infection.

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