In the context of this discussion, you HAVE been exposed to the virus. To use your analogy, you’re hitting the test button when your house is already on fire. Hence the reason why I asked the question in the first place
Hepatitis B takes 60-90 days to incubate. Because of the slow incubation, the vaccine works best if started within 24 hours of exposure, and can still work if administered up to 7 days after exposure. Newborns are typically exposed during birth, not while growing in the womb.
Compare to, say, the COVID-19, where the incubation is 2-14 days. The vaccine takes about 10-14 days to set in, so if you take it post-exposure in most cases you’ll be done with the actual infection before the vaccine even starts working.
In the context of this discussion, you HAVE been exposed to the virus. To use your analogy, you’re hitting the test button when your house is already on fire. Hence the reason why I asked the question in the first place
Oh, I misunderstood. My apologies.
Hepatitis B takes 60-90 days to incubate. Because of the slow incubation, the vaccine works best if started within 24 hours of exposure, and can still work if administered up to 7 days after exposure. Newborns are typically exposed during birth, not while growing in the womb.
Compare to, say, the COVID-19, where the incubation is 2-14 days. The vaccine takes about 10-14 days to set in, so if you take it post-exposure in most cases you’ll be done with the actual infection before the vaccine even starts working.
Oh interesting. I hadn’t considered they could be isolated from it during pregnancy.
Yeah, the placenta is pretty bad ass