[The investigation on the safety and immunogenicity of inactived hepatitis A vaccine AVAXIM].

OBJECTIVES To investigate the safety and immunogenicity of AVAXIM in children and adults. METHODS One hundred and twenty-one children aged 6 - 12 years and 108 adults with negative HAV antibody, were inoculated by 0, 6 month procedure with inactivated HAV vaccine produced by Pasteur Merieux Connaught (AVAXIM 160 antigen unit). RESULTS The positive rates of anti-HAV IgG among children group and adult group were 98.15% and 94.17% respectively after one month of first inoculation, and became 100% and 97.22% after one month of second inoculation. The antibody positive rate was higher in children than in adults, but did not show statistical significance (P < 0.05). The side effects of AVAXIM inoculation were mild, mainly local pain with occurrences 1.7% - 2.8% in both groups. No serious systemic and local reactions were noticed. CONCLUSION AVAXIM had good safety and immunogenicity, seen not only in adults, but also in children.