Hepatitis B immune status of staff in smaller acute healthcare facilities

Objective To determine the proportion of staff employed in smaller Victorian public acute healthcare facilities with evidence of immunity to hepatitis B. Methods For optimal long-term immunity, a completed hepatitis B vaccination course and post vaccination hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) level ≥10 mIU/mL is desirable for all high-risk staff employed in healthcare facilities. For the financial years 2016/17-2019/20, a standardised surveillance module developed by the Victorian Healthcare Associated Infection Surveillance System (VICNISS) Coordinating Centre was completed by the smaller Victorian public acute healthcare facilities (individual hospitals with Results A total of 88 healthcare facilities reported hepatitis B immunity status of high-risk (Category A) staff (n  = 29 920) at least once over 5 years; 55 healthcare facilities reported more than once. The aggregate proportion with evidence of optimal immunity was 66.3%. Healthcare facilities with 100-199 Category A staff employed reported the lowest evidence of optimal immunity (59.6%). Of all Category A staff with no evidence of optimal immunity, the majority had 'unknown' status (19.8%), with only 0.6% overall who declined vaccination. Conclusions Our study found evidence of optimal staff hepatitis B immunity in only two-thirds of Category A staff working in surveyed healthcare facilities.