3 ms·
I don't know if this is still the case, but back when I grew up the answer was that it was made from live virus, so there was a (tiny) chance of getting the act
by Filligree 9y ago
I don't know if this is still the case, but back when I grew up the answer was that it was made from live virus, so there was a (tiny) chance of getting the actual disease if you got it.
Therefore it was only given to populations already at risk of infection, e.g. nurses.
- Xylakant 9y agoI’m not a nurse and I have both Hep A and B vaccinations. At least in Germany you can get if you ask for it.
- Filligree 9y agoThat was also the case in Norway. It just wasn't automatic. The risk was really tiny anyway. Even if you did get infected, it was unlikely to cause any damage. But going from other comments in the thread it's not the same vaccine that is used today, so I expect they fixed the problem.
- Xylakant 9y agoI’d be surprised if it was a live vaccine, due to a medical condition I usually don’t get them. And Wikipedia to the rescue https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A_vaccine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_A_vaccine, it’s inactivated virus cultures.
- Filligree 9y agoSame page says one of the ones still in use is in fact attenuated live virus. I'm not remotely surprised it's not commonly in use in the west, though.
- protomyth 9y agoI remember the same. Our Early Childhood staff got the vaccine unless they had a liver (could be kidney, it has been 20 years) problem. Office staff were not given the vaccine because there was a risk. Things, obviously, could have changed.