Fazle Akbar, Sheikh MohammadAl Mahtab, MamunBegum, FerdousiHossain, Shaikh A. ShahedSarker, SukumarShrestha, AnantaKhan, Md. Sakirul IslamYoshida, OsamuHiasa, Yoichi2022-06-292022-06-2920214/12/2021Akbar, S. M. F., Al Mahtab, M., Begum, F., Hossain, S. A. S., Sarker, S., Shrestha, A., . . . Hiasa, Y. (2021). Implications of birth-dose vaccination against hepatitis B virus in Southeast Asia. Vaccines, 9(4) doi:10.3390/vaccines9040374http://hdl.handle.net/10361/17013This article was published in the Vaccines by MDPI [© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).] and the definite version is available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9040374 The Journal's website is at: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/4/374The World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) covers 11 countries with a combined population of about 2 billion people, making it the most populous of the six WHO regions. In 1992, the WHO advocated including the hepatitis B vaccine in the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) and vaccinating all infants and children three times within 1 year of birth (HepB3). Recently, the WHO advocate birth-dose hepatitis B vaccination (HepB-BD) as soon as possible after birth, preferably within 24 hours. In 2016, the SEARO endorsed a regional hepatitis B control goal with a target of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroprevalence of ≤1% among children aged ≥5 years by 2020. Of the 11 SEARO countries, four achieved this target on schedule. Out of these four countries, two countries (Bangladesh and Nepal) have not adopted HepB-BD in EPI program. On the other hand, the coverage of HepB3 is not satisfactory in some SEARO countries, including India which adopted HepB-BD but could not achieve the overall target of SEARO. Thus, it is a point of debate whether emphasis should be placed on proper implementation of HepB3 or whether a new agenda of HepB-BD should be incorporated in developing countries of SEARO. The article discusses strengthening and expanding the Hepatitis B vaccination program in SEARO countries with an emphasis on HepB and HepB-BD programs.en-USHepatitis B vaccineEPIBirth-dose vaccineSEAROJournal Articlehttps://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9040374