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BMJ No 7099 Volume 315 Letters Saturday 5 July 1997 Mistake in report: hepatitis B vaccination for drug misusers is recommended Editor, The importance of national hepatitis B vaccination programmes has correctly been identified as a vital public health response to the global epidemic of hepatitis B, and this supports the World Health Organisation's call for universal hepatitis B vaccination by 1997.(1) While the authors of an article about hepatitis B vaccination programmes and the authors of a commentary on the article argued about the relative merits of universal and targeted immunisation policies,(2) only scant attention was given to the importance of vaccinating drug misusers and the widespread failure to incorporate hepatitis B testing and vaccination in the practice of so many drug services.(3, 4) The Drug Treatment Effectiveness Task Force, which was recently convened by the Department of Health, identified universal hepatitis B vaccination for all current and potential drug injectors as an important component of the healthcare response to drug misuse which had been strangely overlooked. Unfortunately, because of an error in the final production of the report, the first print runs (which were widely distributed) contained an incomplete and somewhat bland endorsement of hepatitis B vaccination, whereas the correct wording (which appeared in subsequent, corrected, print runs of the report) contained the following key recommendation: 'steps should be taken to ensure drug misusers who inject or are at risk of injecting have better access to hepatitis B vaccinations, with the aim of providing universal coverage.' (5) We wish to draw attention to the correct, more specific, recommendation. We remain concerned that purchasers and providers may have failed to recognise the importance that we believe must be attached to this straightforward method of providing healthcare benefit. John Polkinghorne Chairman, Drug Treatment Effectiveness Task Force, 1995-6 President's Lodge, Queens' College, Cambridge CB3 9UT John Strang Director Michael Farrell Consultant psychiatrist National Addiction Centre, Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF References 1 Kane M A. Global programme for control hepatitis B infection. Vaccine 1995;13(suppl 1):S47-9. 2 Van Damme P, Kane M A, Meheus A on behalf of Viral Hepatitis Prevention Board. Integration of hepatitis B vaccination into national immunisation programmes. BMJ 1997;314:1033-7. [With commentary by P P Mortimer and E Miller.] (5 April.) 3 Farrell M, Battersby M, Strang J. Screening for hepatitis B and vaccination of injecting drug users in NHS drug treatment services. Br J Addict 1990;85:1657-9. 4 Mangtani P, Hall A, Normand C E M. Hepatitis B vaccination: the cost-effectiveness of alternative strategies in England and Wales. J Epidemiol Community Health 1995;49:238-44. 5 Task Force to Review Services for Drug Misusers. Report of an independent review of drug treatment services in England. London: Department of Health, 1996. Home | Current issue | Past issues | Classified ads | Career Focus | Feedback Collections | About this site | About the BMJ | BMA | Medline