A bright spot amidst vaccine disinformation

Opinion editor’s note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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A new study from George Washington University yielded surprising, yet hopeful findings. In an era in which disinformation has undermined the public’s confidence in vaccines, researchers documented good news about one important immunization: the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns

The parental refusal rate, previously recorded in the study at 12.1% in 2017, plummeted to 3.5% in 2022, meaning more parents are taking the responsible step and getting their children vaccinated. This development is an encouraging one, although it requires further scrutiny of the factors that created more parental trust in this particular shot. Lessons learned could help reduce refusal rates for this vaccine and other routine childhood immunizations nationwide.

Hepatitis B is a severe viral liver infection, which can be either acute (recovery within six months), or chronic (the infection lasts longer than six months), where it can increase the risk of cirrhosis, liver failure, liver cancer, and premature death. Those with chronic hepatitis B are 25% more likely to die earlier due to related causes. Although there are treatments to manage the symptoms, there is no cure.

The hepatitis B vaccine is recommended for all medically stable infants weighing 2,000 grams or more within 24 hours of birth, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Getting your newborn baby vaccinated is critical because hepatitis B can spread by the bodily fluids of an infected person, and can be transmitted from mother to baby at birth.

Hepatitis B is a significant public health concern both statewide and nationwide. According to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), there are currently 28,704 cases of chronic hepatitis B in the state as of 2023, with 502 new cases diagnosed in 2023. There were 14,229 new cases recorded nationally by the Center for Disease Control in 2021, and an estimated 880,000-1.89 million cases nationwide.

It’s important for all parents to get their newborn vaccinated even if they don’t think they themselves have hepatitis B. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 68% of those infected with chronic hepatitis B don’t know they have it, and therefore strongly recommend getting your baby vaccinated within 24 hours of birth to mitigate this risk.

Though doctors now do prenatal tests that determine if the mom has hepatitis B prior to giving birth, getting the vaccine offers lifelong protection against hepatitis B. Infection can occur later in life through blood transfusion, sexual contact, or drug use. Additionally, children and infants, if infected with hepatitis B, are more likely than adults to develop the chronic form of the disease.

That’s why the dramatic decrease in hepatitis B vaccine refusal rates in the George Washington University study, which surveyed 74,660 births over a five-year period in Washington, D.C., is a positive development. This is a welcome bright spot when anti-vaccine conspiracy theories spread quickly on social media and there are some political leaders irresponsibly encouraging doubts about routine childhood immunizations.

Just last weekend, during presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rally in St. Cloud, he doubled down on stripping federal funding from schools that require routine childhood vaccinations, the second time he’s done so in the state. Minnesota, like other states, requires childhood immunizations to attend school (with some limited exceptions).

This is incredibly harmful rhetoric. Just last week, there was a high-profile reminder that vaccine-preventable diseases are still around, with state health officials reporting three unrelated cases of measles, a highly contagious, dangerous and preventable disease, in three separate counties in Minnesota. All of the infected children were unvaccinated.

Minnesota has room for improvement in its vaccination rates. The MMR vaccine rate, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, was at a 78.7% coverage rate as of 2023, down from 85% in 2018. The positive trend documented in the George Washington University study for newborn hepatitis B vaccines has not been reflected in the hepatitis B coverage in Minnesotan newborns, where the 86% coverage in 2020 has dropped to 82.2% as of 2023.

The importance of getting your children vaccinated before school starts again this fall cannot be stressed enough, particularly with the recent measles cases in the state. Credible information about childhood vaccinations is available from your family physician as well as the state health department. On the MDH website, parents can also create or access their children’s MIIC (Minnesota Immunization Information Connection) record to make sure they’re up-to-date before school begins. For more information, go to tinyurl.com/MNVaccineInfo.