Question
I am 36 years old and have been feeling unwell recently. I sometimes get dizzy during the day, can’t sleep at night, and medication doesn’t seem to help much. Can the Hepatitis B vaccine be administered in the summer?
Answer
The Hepatitis B vaccines currently used in our country are all domestically produced, with no imported vaccines. There are two main types of technology for domestic Hepatitis B vaccines: one is the attenuated vaccine (which contains live Hepatitis B virus), and the other is the inactivated vaccine. The instructions for the attenuated vaccine state a caution that it “is not recommended for use during the epidemic season,” while the instructions for the inactivated vaccine do not include this caution. This is because if Hepatitis B develops after administration of the attenuated vaccine, it might be considered a reaction caused by the vaccine. Since it is difficult to rule out this possibility, it is not recommended to use the attenuated vaccine during the epidemic season to avoid suspicion.