Hep B

 

I am sure I have read somewhere that my 6 year old will need a course of Hep B injections before he can start school in Spain. Can anyone confirm this for me ?

We hope to be over by August and I am sure there is a three month gap between each jab. If that is the case does anyone know if school's will allow the children to start if the Hep B course is not complete?

Thanks

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Hi WalestoSpain, (long name!)
We moved to Catalunya last summer with our (then 7) 8 year old son. And put him into school.
He has had all the usual jabs required for UK. ie. diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hib, polio, MMR and mengit C.
The school wanted to see a copy of his immunisation (from 'personal child health record')  As you can see, he has not had Hep B.
(Is that required in UK now?)
I am assuming here, that it is the same throughout Spain, our son did not need Hep B. Things may have changed since we moved.
I would recomend that you contact the school and ask them.
We visited the school before the move and found out what we needed to do.
There are now (including our son) 9 English children in the village school. We were the first English people to visit ,and inform the school of our intention to enrol our son, BEFORE we moved!
The school was very pleased. They knew how many children they were expecting, and we knew what we needed.
Don't know if this helps, I hope so.
Good luck.
Regards,
Fiona

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 Hep B is not a requirement in UK or Spain as it is only necessary for occupational health, that is Health workers(people who come in contact with possibly infected people), environmental health workers (rat catchers, sewarage works etc) and intravenous drug users (druggies, not diabetics as they don't share needles).

HOWEVER, as with all things in Spain, each province has its own immunisation requirements.  Looking at the WHO site, though, can't see any province in Spain that requires Hep B for schoolkids.  Even Hep A is not a requirement for travel to Spain. 

Spain did have Hep B for children which was replaced by the combined Hep A+B vac back in 1998 but was dropped a year later.  Check with the school your children are going to as they may have different rules due to some localised conditions (school built on an old slaughterhouse for example .)

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My son started school in Spain at 4 years of age.  He was up to date with all his vaccinations from the UK.  However, when he was six I heard that all school children in Spain received Hepatitis B inoculations and so I took his health record book to the local health centre and made enquiries.  They took details of his name and school and said they would be in touch.  The school notified us of an appointment for his first Hep. B jab.  He then had to have a booster a month later and a third one 5-6 months later.  We were told that the timing of these was crucial and that if he missed either of the boosters he would have to start all over again. Just before Christmas it was said that a 5 year old at his school was ill with Hepatitis B. My understanding is that he will not need any other vaccinations until he is about 13. 

We live on the CDS and it might be different in the area you will be going to, but in any case I hope this is helpful.

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Thanks for the advice everyone

Though I am still a little confused , however I have copied the following from another forum where somone has loosely translated the vaccination guidelines for Alicante...

New born: Hepatitis B
2 months: Hepatitis B, polio, tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough, Haemophilus influenza type B, meningitis C
4 months: as for 2 months except for Hepatitis B.
6 months: as for 2 months
15 months: triple vaccination - measles, german measles, parotiditis
18 months: polio, tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough, Haemophilus influenza type B
6 years: tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough, triple vaccination - measles, german measles, parotiditis
12 years: 3 doses of Hepatitis B with spacing of 0 - 1 - 6 months.
14 years: tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough

We shall be over for a week on the 5 May and we have an appointment at a school the following Friday, so will save my questions for then.

Janice

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