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. 2021 Jun;93(6):3991-3994.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.26327. Epub 2020 Aug 25.

Hepatitis A vaccine immunogenicity 25 years after vaccination in Alaska

Maya Ramaswamy  1 , Dana Bruden  1 , Leisha D Nolen  1 , Emily Mosites  1 , Mary Snowball  2 , Noele P Nelson  3 , Michael Bruce  1 , Brian J McMahon  2
Affiliations

Hepatitis A vaccine immunogenicity 25 years after vaccination in Alaska

Maya Ramaswamy et al. J Med Virol. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

The hepatitis A vaccine is recommended for all children greater than or equal to 1 year of age, however, the duration of vaccine protection is unknown and protection through adulthood is crucial to prevent symptomatic hepatitis later in life. We report on 25 years of follow-up of a cohort of Alaska Native individuals who were vaccinated in early childhood. We assessed the duration of vaccine protection by calculating the geometric mean concentration and proportion of participants with protective levels of IgG antibody to hepatitis A virus (anti-HAV) (≥20 mIU/mL) every 2 to 3 years. We estimated the amount of time until the anti-HAV dropped below protective levels using survival analyses. At 25 years, 43 of the original 144 participants were available, mean anti-HAV levels were 91.5 mIU/mL, and 35 (81.4%) had protective levels of anti-HAV. Using data from all persons and all time points, a survival analysis estimated 78.7% of participants had protective levels of anti-HAV at 25 years. The high level of protective antibodies in this cohort indicate that supplemental doses of hepatitis A vaccine are not needed 25 years after completion of the vaccine series.

Keywords: hepatitis A virus; immunization; vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The percentage of participants in the Alaska hepatitis A childhood vaccine study (1991-2017) with anti-HAV greater than or equal to 20 mIU/mL by primary vaccine series and time since receiving the third dose of vaccine (n = 144). HAV, hepatitis A virus
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Survival probabilities of protective antibody levels in the Alaska hepatitis A childhood vaccine study (1991-2017) for time until anti-HAV greater than or equal to 20 mIU/mL according to primary vaccine series. HAV, hepatitis A virus
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