Healthcare professionals administer the hepatitis A vaccine in two doses. They give the first dose when the infant is between 12 and 23 months old and the second dose 6 months after the first. The hepatitis A vaccine offers protection against the hepatitis ...

Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may vote this week to make a major change to the childhood vaccine schedule, potentially delaying a dose of the hepatitis B vaccine given to newborns by weeks or even years.

The virus is found in blood, saliva, semen and other bodily fluids, even tears, and it can live on surfaces for up to seven days. A child with a wound who comes into contact with that surface — even days later — could become infected, says Anita Patel, a pediatrician and pediatric critical care physician in Washington, D.C.