Accelerated schedule for hepatitis B vaccine may be beneficial for at-risk pregnant women

Avoiding behaviors that can put a woman at risk for contracting transmissible diseases is especially important for those who are mothers-to-be. While there is a hepatitis B vaccine that can safely protect these individuals from the disease, the regimen used to administer these shots calls for three doses over a period of six months.

Now, a study published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology has shown that an accelerated vaccination process that takes place over just 12 weeks may provide the same level of protection against hepatitis B and eliminate some of the barriers that prevent at-risk women from seeking all three of the injections.

The study's results showed that the seroconversion rates - or pace at which anti-hepatitis B antibodies are formed - were comparable in the accelerated regimen to those in the standard care treatment at 90 percent.

Moreover, the researchers did not observe any serious adverse side effects for mothers or newborns.

"Initial concerns about the ability of a pregnant woman to mount an effective immune response to a vaccine are largely unfounded. It's doable," said lead researcher Jeanne Sheffield.