Tenofovir to Prevent Perinatal Transmission of Hepatitis B

To the Editor: Prevention of vertical transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is central to reducing the burden of infection globally. 1 Jourdain and colleagues (March 8 issue) 2 provided immune prophylaxis to infants with high success and timeliness, but administration of hepatitis B immune globulin a median of 1.3 hours after birth and administration of vaccine a median of 1.2 hours after birth is not likely to be generalizable. Furthermore, since the observed mother-to-child transmission rate with the administration of hepatitis B immune globulin and vaccine in the placebo group was low (2% instead of the expected 12%), the trial was . . .