# Hepatitis B birth-dose vaccination by country

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/hepatitis-b-birth-dose-programmes/  
OnCo record `hepatitis-b-birth-dose-programmes` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A dose of hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth, which WHO recommends for every baby; in WHO's 2025 data, 117 of 194 countries give it to all newborns and 30 more to babies at risk.

## Summary

WHO recommends that all babies receive hepatitis B vaccine as soon as possible after birth (within 24 hours), followed by two or three further doses, because infection in infancy and early childhood becomes chronic in about 95% of cases, and chronic hepatitis B leads to cirrhosis and liver cancer (WHO fact sheet, 28 July 2026). WHO's immunization data (resource MT_AD_INTRO_LONG, antigen HepB_BD) record, for 2025, the birth dose as introduced in 117 of 194 countries, introduced for risk groups only ("Yes (R)") in 30, partially introduced in 2, and not introduced in 45. Hepatitis B vaccine itself (antigen HEPB) is recorded for 2025 as introduced in 190 countries, for risk groups only in 3 and for adolescents in 1. Among countries OnCo describes: Bangladesh and Rwanda record no birth dose; France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and South Africa give it to risk groups only; China, Nigeria, Indonesia, Australia and Israel give it to all newborns.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Also known as: HepB birth dose; hepatitis B birth dose; HepB-BD
- Tags: vaccination-programme

## Sources

- WHO fact sheet: hepatitis B (28 July 2026): https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hepatitis-b
- WHO xMart API: hepatitis B birth-dose introduction by country and year: https://xmart-api-public.who.int/WIISE/MT_AD_INTRO_LONG?$filter=ANTIGEN%20eq%20'HepB_BD'

## Connected records

- drugs: [BEVAC hepatitis B vaccine (Biological E)](https://onco.cc/drugs/bevac/), [Engerix-B (hepatitis B vaccine, recombinant)](https://onco.cc/drugs/engerix-b/), [Euvax B (hepatitis B vaccine, LG Chem)](https://onco.cc/drugs/euvax-b/), [Heberbiovac HB (hepatitis B vaccine, Cuba)](https://onco.cc/drugs/heberbiovac-hb/), [Hepatitis B Vaccine (rDNA), Serum Institute of India](https://onco.cc/drugs/sii-hepatitis-b-vaccine/), [Recombivax HB / HBVaxPro (hepatitis B vaccine, recombinant)](https://onco.cc/drugs/recombivax-hb/)
- collections: [WHO immunization data portal (WIISE)](https://onco.cc/collections/who-immunization-data/)
- cancers: [Hepatocellular carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/hcc/)
- fronts: [Prevention & Risk](https://onco.cc/fronts/prevention/)
- technologies: [HPV & HBV vaccination](https://onco.cc/technologies/hpv-vaccine/)
- pathways: [Oncogenic viruses](https://onco.cc/pathways/oncogenic-viruses/)
- terms: [Hepatitis B and C as cancer causes](https://onco.cc/terms/hbv-hcv/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/hepatitis-b-birth-dose-programmes.json