Hi all,
My son just turned 3 months and he has received his 2nd dose HBV a month ago when he was 2 months old.
My question is does he has any protection right now? or how soon after the 1st does will protection starts to kick in?
My concern is that because my father in-law is a CHB carrier and he could unknowingly expose my son by accident.
Thank you.
Hi @Jason2024,
Congratulations on the birth of your son! That is such an exciting (and exhausting) time.
Antibodies against HBs will start being detectable about 2 weeks after the primary vaccination and will rise over the next week or two, when they will either stabilize or slowly start waning. They will take a big jump up within a week or so of the 2nd vaccination, then again stabilize or slowly decline. They will then take another big bump up upon the 3rd vaccination, where they will stay at high levels for decades.
This assumes your son is a responder to the vaccine. 5-7% of people do not respond well (I’m a non-responder and never developed detectable antibodies after 2 rounds of vaccination). Although it is quite likely your son has substantial levels of protection now, everyone responds with a slightly different pattern, so predicting when your son has full protection is hard. If you are concerned you can ask your pediatrician to do an anti-HBs antibody test (“HBs antibodies”).
Also, HBV cannot be passed from one person to another by casual contact. There is no danger from your father-in-law holding his grandson, kissing him, changing his diaper, etc. Transmission in this case would involve direct blood contact–for example if your father in law had a cut on his hand and bled onto a scratch on your son. That is a very unlikely event.
I hope you and your wife enjoy raising your son as much as my wife and I enjoyed raising our 2 boys. They are 27 and 30 now, and it was great when they went from being our kids to being our friends!
John.
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Thank you so much for your answer and explanation sir. Happy thanksgiving to your family.
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