VACCINATIONS AND TITERS

MOH offers a wide range of vaccinations – including flu vaccinations – and antibody titers. If you need one that’s not listed below, please contact us to see if we can obtain and stock your request. A particular vaccine may not be on hand due to its short shelf life and special storage requirements, but we will do what we can to accommodate requests.

Titers are blood tests that help determine if a person has been vaccinated against a particular disease and if can sometimes indicate if the vaccine has enabled the body to develop antibodies to that disease.

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT Hepatitis B Vaccinations:

Hepatitis B Vaccine Announcement – October 2018

Minnesota Occupational Health has now received a newly approved 2-dose vaccine against Hepatitis B meaning one less clinic visit. The effectiveness of the 2-dose vs 3-dose vaccine is the same however the two vaccines are not interchangeable.

Hepatitis B vaccinations are typically offered to medical emergency response teams, law enforcement, corrections, fire, EMS, clinic, dental, nursing care and hospital workers.
The 2 doses should be administered at least 4 weeks apart. Cost for the 2-dose series is $10 less than the 3-dose series.

Workers who have already begun the 3-dose series will complete that series. Workers beginning the hepatitis B vaccination series will receive the 2-dose vaccine.

Employers with workers who are at a higher risk of exposure sometimes offer titers (post-vaccination serologic testing). The titer (blood test) should be drawn 1–2 months after the final dose of vaccine, for both vaccine types.

The Hepatitis B vaccine is very safe, and it is effective at preventing the Hepatitis B disease. Vaccines, like any medicine, can have side effects. Most people who get the Hepatitis B vaccine have no side effects at all. Some people report having very mild side effects, like a sore arm from the shot for a day or two. The most common side effects are usually mild and last 1 or 2 days.

The Hepatitis B virus causes a contagious liver disease that can cause cancer and cirrhosis (scarring of the liver). It is spread when infected blood, semen, or other body fluid enters the body of a person who is not infected. You can protect against Hepatitis B with safe, effective vaccination.