Hepatitis A and B vaccination in a sexually transmitted disease clinic for men who have sex with men

Abstract

Background: Sexually transmitted disease clinics can deliver hepatitis vaccines to men who have sex with men, but have been reluctant to do so because of perceived low vaccination completion rates.

Goal: The goal was to evaluate hepatitis A and B vaccination eligibility, acceptance, and completion and the effectiveness of reminder/recall in a sexually transmitted disease clinic serving men who have sex with men.

Design: Clients self-reported their eligibility for free vaccine. Consenting clients who accepted a first dose of vaccine were systematically assigned to receive telephone reminder/recall or standard follow-up.

Results: Of 1203 clients, 71.8% were eligible for both vaccines; 62.6% of those eligible accepted both. Reminder/recall was associated with increased receipt of the second dose of hepatitis B vaccine (86.7% versus 80.4% among intervention and control groups, respectively), but not with completion of both vaccine series (55.9% versus 58.8%).

Conclusion: The majority of clients were eligible for both hepatitis vaccines, and most eligible clients accepted a first dose of both vaccines. Reminder/recall, as delivered at this clinic, failed to increase the proportion of clients who received all vaccine doses. New delivery mechanisms should be explored.