IV 116th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 331 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 30, 2019 Mr. Johnson of Georgia (for himself, Ms. Meng , Mr. Fitzpatrick , Ms. Lee of California , Mr. Lewis , Ms. Norton , Mr. Grijalva , Mrs. Watson Coleman , and Ms. Judy Chu of California ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce RESOLUTION Expressing support for the designation of April 30 as National Adult Hepatitis B Vaccination Awareness Day .

Whereas up to 2.2 million individuals in the United States are chronically infected with hepatitis B, and up to two-thirds of individuals with chronic hepatitis B are unaware of their infection status; Whereas hepatitis B is a viral infection of the liver transmitted via infected blood and other body fluids, including mother-to-child transmission and transmission through injection drug use; Whereas individuals with chronic diseases such as diabetes, HIV, hepatitis C, and chronic liver disease, and individuals on hemodialysis are at an increased risk for hepatitis B co-infection; Whereas there is no cure for hepatitis B and individuals with chronic hepatitis B require lifelong medical care; Whereas chronic hepatitis B represents one of the most common causes of liver cancer; Whereas 1 in every 4 individuals with unmanaged chronic hepatitis B will develop liver cancer, cirrhosis, or liver failure, with liver cancer only having an 18 percent 5-year survival rate in the United States; Whereas safe and highly effective vaccines to protect against hepatitis B are currently available and infants and children have been routinely vaccinated against hepatitis B since the 1990s in accordance with universal childhood hepatitis B vaccination recommendations in the United States; Whereas the hepatitis B vaccine, which is 95 percent effective and was the first anticancer vaccine to be developed, is projected to prevent 310 million cases of hepatitis B worldwide from 1990 to 2020; Whereas only 25 percent of adults are vaccinated against hepatitis B in the United States; Whereas the number of reported acute hepatitis B cases increased by 20 percent nationwide in 2015, and there have been significant regional increases in acute hepatitis B cases in the United States as a result of the opioid epidemic, with Maine reporting a 729-percent increase in acute hepatitis B infections from 2015 to 2017, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Tennessee reporting a 114-percent increase from 2009 to 2013, southeastern Massachusetts reporting a 78-percent increase in 2017, and North Carolina reporting a 62-percent increase from 2012 to 2016; Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hepatitis B is 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV and 5 to 10 times more infectious than hepatitis C; and Whereas there are significant opportunities to prevent new hepatitis B infections and subsequently reduce the incidence of liver cancer and cirrhosis through efforts to increase adult hepatitis B vaccination and maintain childhood hepatitis B vaccination, particularly within the setting of the opioid epidemic: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1) supports the designation of National Adult Hepatitis B Vaccination Awareness Day ; (2) recognizes the importance of providing support for individuals to be tested for hepatitis B, vaccinating those susceptible to hepatitis B, and linking to appropriate care those diagnosed with hepatitis B; and (3) encourages a commitment to increasing adult hepatitis B vaccination rates, maintaining childhood hepatitis B vaccination rates, and promoting provider and community awareness of adult hepatitis B vaccination in order to reduce the number of new hepatitis B infections and hepatitis B-related deaths.