A population-based hepatitis B vaccination coverage survey among Asian and Pacific Islander American students in...

The goal of this project was to evaluate the impact of the Florida mandatory hepatitis B vaccination law on the immunization status of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students in Gainesville.

We (1) compared the differences of hepatitis B immunization rate between students in grades seven through nine and grades 10 through 12, (2) assessed knowledge of and attitudes towards hepatitis B vaccination of parents of AAPI students, and (3) promoted the importance of Hepatitis B vaccination among those who have not received the vaccination.

Two hundred and eighty-eight AAPIs were enrolled in grades seven through 12; 42 could not be contacted. Forty-seven percent of the parents (n = 116) consented to in-home interviews and gave permission to verify the immunization status. An additional 65 parents gave permission to verify the immunization status, but did not consent to be interviewed.

As expected by state mandate, significantly more seventh, eight, and ninth graders were immunized compared to students in grades 10 through 12 (X(2) = 137.50, p < 0.0001). More than 90% of the students in the seventh, eight, and ninth grades had received all three hepatitis B vaccines. Less than 30% of the students in grades 10 through 12 received all three vaccines. Most parents (79%) said their high school-aged children had not received the vaccines because they were not required to do so. Most parents knew children needed three vaccines to be fully immunized and correctly identified the liver as the target organ. However, there was uncertainty about the mode of HBV transmission.