Continue Hepatitis B in adopted newborn?

[jezebelle]

First off, I am very new to this whole vaccination thing, so please bear with me.

Husband and I adopted a newborn at the beginning of February.  Birth mother elected to have him vaccinated for Hep B at birth.  Husband and I would have preferred to use the Dr. Sears schedule.  My plan is to use that from now on, but I am concerned about whether to continue the Hep B schedule initiated at birth.  If I decide not to follow-up with the mainstream schedule, I am pretty sure we will later have to start over, meaning Baby will get a total of four shots instead of three. 

Hopefully this makes sense when I type it, but the bottom line is that I wanted to get some opinions.  Should I go ahead with the Hep B, since it has already been started, to avoid getting more shots than absolutely necessary?  Or should I abstain and stick to my preferred schedule to prevent Baby from getting shots earlier than necessary?

Thanks in advance.

[JBaxter]

I would not continue he HepB. We are going to do the HepB series more toward middles school years here.  I think Dr Sears is to heavy on the vax to close together.   I didnt do any with DS4 until he was 12 months then only one shot per visit.    Since he is your first baby you may want to only do one shot at the first vaxing appt.   If he reacts you will know EXACTLY  what it was.

We selectively vaccinate and do only one shot / visit.   We will not be doing rotovirus, prevnar or HepA with Jack ( DS4)   Take your time do some reading you can ALWAYS vaccinate but you cant take it back once it is injected.

[ma2two]

The CDC says, "A vaccine series does not need to be restarted, regardless of the time that has elapsed between doses." http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/downloads/child/catchup-schedule-pr.pdf (top of page)

Unless the birth mother was infected with hepatitis B, I don't see any reason to give any more doses until puberty, at which point there is a possibility of unprotected sex with infected partners and illegal drug use. Or you could order a blood test for immunity at puberty. Maybe the first shot will have been enough.

[jezebelle]

Thanks, guys!

ma2two, I didn't see that information in my books, thank you so much for letting me know!  I think my decision just made itself.