[Hepatitis B vaccination: the danger of AIDS transmission]

The safety of the hepatitis B vaccine H-B- Vax derives from a very strict screening of plasma donors as well as an extensive production process consisting of several purification and three inactivation steps. During a follow up of about 20 000 vaccine recipients over a 7 year-period, no known occurrence of AIDS or other infectious diseases have been associated with the vaccine. Also no known case of AIDS occurred in a group of 200 000 persons at low risk vaccinated since 1981. The hepatitis B vaccine is highly recommended to all people at high risk in Western Germany by the health organizations as well as the WHO.