KARACHI, Aug 21: The hepatitis B infection — which is fast becoming a common infection with a prevalence rate of three per cent to 10 per cent among Pakistani children — can be effectively contained through proper vaccinations.

While the standard protocol for administering the vaccination to children is three doses of 10gm, doctors are turning supportive of a two dose regimen of 10gm of the vaccine.

A controlled random trial conducted among healthy children under 15 years at local hospitals revealed that the two dose regimen of 10gm vaccine given four weeks apart provided adequate protection for children.

The protocol was also observed to improve compliance and reduce expenditure, as the existing standard protocol of three-dose administered four weeks apart or two doses given four weeks apart and a third at six months after the first, is generally difficult to be complied as is time consuming and comparatively expensive.—APP