Q. What is you opinion of the Hepatitis B vaccine and how do you deal with it in your practice?
A. I try not to give it to any kids. It does a very good job of preventing hepatitis B, no doubt about that, but it also hits the immune system pretty hard and possibly creates autoimmune problems. The French stopped giving this shot for a while because they thought they saw an increase in multiple sclerosis in recipients. Very few experts agree with this finding but the data were not bad. Other relatively reasonable docs think that diabetes or lupus might be on the rise because of the HBV.
Creating the false security that unprotected sex is safer or that drug use is safer just opens people up to the possibilities of Hep C, AIDS or pregnancy.
I also think that there will be a much better shot in the next 5-10 years.