1,510 People Received Hep A Vaccination While Incarcerated in L.A. County Jail

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there has been a rise in person-to-person outbreaks of hepatitis A in the United States since 2016.

On February 15, 2024, the CDC released a statement that the risk of hepatitis A transmission is higher in jails and presented a case study on reducing the risk of this disease.

The Los Angeles County Jail system was notified on May 30, 2023, that the Los Angeles County Jail system, the largest in the United States, was notified that an incarcerated person, a food handler, had received a positive hepatitis A test result.

Using electronic health records and the state immunization registry, investigators identified persons eligible for hepatitis A vaccination. There were 2,766 persons who were offered the vaccine, and 54.6% agreed to receive it.

Persons initially declined vaccination were offered a second opportunity to receive a vaccine. Incarcerated kitchen workers with undocumented vaccination history or undocumented serology who refused vaccination were removed from kitchen duties until the end of their potential incubation period.

As of October 16, 2023, no additional Hep A cases have been identified in that LA jail system.

The CDC says, 'Identifying (hep A) contacts promptly and using immunization and serology records to ensure rapid delivery of postexposure prophylactic vaccine can help prevent disease transmission during exposures among incarcerated populations.'