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How about the little kids who found syringes and needles in a neighborhood park in the next city over from here?
Or, police and fire having to put up with finding needles and syringes in the normal course of daily business.
Dumpster divers, my a$$
I was being facetious in regards to a topic which, at this point in time at least, is pretty theoretical. There may be a successful HIV vaccine down the road, and that will be the time to determine just who would benefit from it. But the time isn't here yet, and I 'd be surprised if it happened any time soon, so until it does we could speculate all day long about it.
I guess one would consider firemen and law enforcement officers in the high risk category for HIV exposure, to the extent they are exposed to direct contact with blood and other body fluids contaminated by HIV, including possible needle sticks from the stray needles, syringes you mention.
Those roving kids out there who incidentally find used needles and syringes in that next city over? I don't know how often this occurs, but if those kids aren't otherwise in a high risk category for exposure to HIV, I'd have to wonder at any insistence that these kids be vaccinated "just in case" they happen on some dirty needles. Guess the consideration would be on a case by case basis.
Well, they give hepB vaccines to newborns. How likely is a newborn to to shooting dope with a hooker?
Any blood exposure can transmit hepatitis B, and many who are chronic carriers do not know it. For half of the children who get it, the source is never determined. Of children who become infected near birth, about 90% will become chronic carriers. Between age one and five, 20% to 50% will fail to clear the virus. That means not only can they infect someone else, they are at risk to get liver cancer.
The vaccine is started at birth because it is safe to do so and will protect the child well before there is actual risk of exposure. Waiting until a person is older just increases the risk that infection will occur before the vaccine is given.
"All in all, a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publication estimates the total prevalence of chronic HBV infection in the United States at 2.2 million, including noninstitutionalized US‐born persons, foreign‐born immigrants with existing HBV infection, and institutionalized individuals."
One of those 2.2 million could be a relative, friend, or neighbor who either does not know he has the virus or chooses not to disclose it. There is no way you can be certain your child will never be exposed to hep B.
The vaccine is started at birth because it is safe to do so and will protect the child well before there is actual risk of exposure. Waiting until a person is older just increases the risk that infection will occur before the vaccine is given.
Vaccines sound great until I look up what's in them. I feel for health professionals; it's too bad there are no other alternatives.
Hep B (Engerix-B) aluminum hydroxide, yeast protein, sodium chloride, disodium phosphate dihydrate, sodium dihydrogen phosphate dihydrate
Hep B (Recombivax) formaldehyde, potassium aluminum sulfate, amorphous aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate, yeast protein
It would be nice if vaccines could be discussed in a rational manner without the immediate godlike worshipping status attributed to them. Once that immediate VACCINES WILL SAVE THE WORLD HOW DARE YOU THINK OTHERWISE YOU IDIOT statement is made ... well .. you get what you get.
The vaccine is started at birth because it is safe to do so and will protect the child well before there is actual risk of exposure. Waiting until a person is older just increases the risk that infection will occur before the vaccine is given.
So just being born is an immediate risk for HepB? What exactly do you think the medical staff is doing to newborns in the nursery?
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