Origin of universal hepatitis B vaccination in Asia

Chronic hepatitis B virus infection prevailed inAsian populations, and chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma were major public health scourges. The prevention of hepatitis B infection by immunization can be seen as one of the great, although unfulfilled, accomplishments of public health. Major reductions in chronic infection in Taiwan, China, Korea and Thailand are the direct result of immunization with hepatitis B vaccine, primarily to newborns and infants. This article reviews the introduction and delivery of hepatitis B vaccine in Asian countries as a result of the efforts of many individuals and organizations beginning in the 1950s and continuing to the present day.