Better Safe than Sorry HBV vaccination status amongst Dentists and Dental students of Pakistan and need for a comprehensive consistently applied vaccination policy in all Dental schools

Objectives: Considering dentists under the high-risk population, the aim of this study is to assess HBV vaccination status amongst dentists and dental students of Islamabad and analyze the presence or absence of a comprehensive consistently applied vaccination policy in the Dental schools.
Methods: This study is being conducted in the various dental schools of Pakistan for August 2015. Data is being collected from all willing participants (dentists and dental students), by means of a structured questionnaire. Expected sample is 600. So far 167 have been achieved. Data analysis will be carried out in SPSS v. 19.0. For statistical purposes, an arbitrary p value < 0.05 will be considered as significant.
Results: The analysis of data collected so far suggests that only 70.6% (n=118) of the participants have received vaccination against HBV. 46.6% (n=55) have the certificate while only 16.3% (n=9) have provided their respective institutions with the proofs. Ironically of the 5 institutions, only 2 ask about HBV vaccination prior to admissions. No other college has a policy or asks for vaccination status prior to or after admission/appointment.
Conclusions: Dentists have a high risk of infection with HBV due to the nature of their work. Despite a 70.6%, it is essential to further improve the rate of HBV vaccination to a 100% in Pakistan. This emphasizes the need for a mandatory policy and program to vaccinate all dentists against HBV. Dental schools should necessarily play a role in motivating for behavior change and ensure immunization to enhance the occupational safety.