Healthcare workers (HCW) are at increased risk of contracting hepatitis B virus (HBV) and are, therefore, vaccinated pre-exposure. In this study, the HBV vaccination programme for medical students in a university hospital in the Netherlands was evaluated. In the first part, the effectiveness of the programme, which consisted of a vaccination with Engerix-B® at 0, 1, and 6 months, was retrospectively evaluated over 7 years (2012-2019). In the second part of this study, we followed students (the 2019 cohort) who had previously been vaccinated against HBV vaccination (4-262 months prior to primary presentation) in order to investigate the most efficient strategy to obtain an adequate anti hepatitis B surface antigen titre. In the latter, titre determination was performed directly during primary presentation instead of giving previously vaccinated students a booster vaccination first. The vaccination programme, as evaluated in the retrospective first part of the study, was effective (surpassed the protection limit of 10 IU/L) in 98.8 percent of the students (95% CI (98.4-99.2)). In the second part of our study, we found that 80 percent (95% CI (70-87)) of the students who had previously been vaccinated against HBV were still sufficiently protected and did not require a booster vaccination. With this strategy, the previously vaccinated students needed an average of 1.4 appointments instead of the 2 appointments needed with the former strategy. This knowledge is important and can save time and resources in the process of occupational HBV vaccination of HCW.
Keywords: anti-HBs; healthcare workers; hepatitis B; long-term protection; vaccination.