Hepatitis A vaccine is a vaccine against the hepatitis A virus. The first successful vaccine against it was invented by Maurice Hilleman at Merck. The vaccine protects against the virus in more than 95% of cases and provides protection from the virus for at least fifteen years. There are two types of vaccines: one type contains inactivated Hepatitis A virus, the other contains a live but attenuated virus. Both types stimulate active immunity against a future infection. Within the USA the vaccine was first phased in around 1996 for children living in high-risk areas. In 1999, it was spread to areas with elevating levels of infection. Today, in the U.S., the vaccine is strongly recommended for all children 12 to 23 months of age in an attempt to eradicate the virus nationwide. The original FDA license for Havrix by GlaxoSmithKline is dated in 1995, it has been in use in Europe since 1993. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the following people should be vaccinated: all children over one year of age, people whose sexual activity puts them at risk, people with chronic liver disease, people who are being treated with clotting factor concentrates, people working within close proximity to the virus, and people who are living in communities where an outbreak is present. Hepatitis A is the most common vaccine-preventable virus acquired during travel, so people travelling to places where the virus is common like the Indian Subcontinent, Africa, Central America, South America, the far East, and Eastern Europe should also be vaccinated. Wikipedia [ - ]

Hepatitis A vaccine is a vaccine against the hepatitis A virus. The first successful vaccine... [ + ]