CDC Recommends Hep B Vaccine For Adults With Diabetes.

HealthDay  (12/23, Preidt) reports, "Hepatitis B vaccination is recommended for all unvaccinated adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes aged 19 to 59," according to new guidelines  issued by the US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and published in the Dec. 23 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The guidelines advise that "vaccination should be done as soon as possible after adults in this age group are diagnosed with diabetes."

        "Citing more limited data for older diabetics, committee members left the decision about whether to vaccinate diabetic adults 60 and older to the treating clinician," MedPage Today  (12/23, Neale) reports. "The decision should be based on the risk of becoming infected with HBV -- including a consideration of the need for assisted blood glucose monitoring in long-term-care facilities -- and the likelihood of an adequate immune response to vaccination, which decreases with age." The recommendations say, however, that "no vaccination is necessary in patients who have been fully immunized at any point in the past."