Shift Happens—So Do Antibodies: Why Rest Matters Before Your HBV Vaccination

Here’s the short version for the night-shift crowd: a 2024 study of 1,103 manufacturing workers in Korea found that shift workers were more likely to “miss” a protective antibody response after the standard 3-dose hepatitis B vaccine—about 3 times the odds compared with day workers after researchers adjusted for age, sex, vitamin D, smoking, and starting antibody levels (adjusted OR 2.87; 95% CI 1.64–5.05). Non-response was also linked to being older, male, vitamin-D-deficient, a current smoker, and having a very low pre-vaccine titer. In other words, biology, biology, biology—plus the wear and tear of nights. Source: Kim & Chae, Vaccines (2024)

What should a shift worker do with that? First, remember this is emerging science. But there’s a low-risk, commonsense lever you control: sleep. A growing body of research shows short sleep around the time of vaccination blunts antibody responses to several vaccines (flu, hepatitis A/B, COVID-19). Objective sleep of <6 hours in the days surrounding vaccination is consistently associated with weaker antibody responses, while being well-rested appears to help. Practically, if you can, book the shot after a recovery day (or after your first good sleep off nights), aim for 7–9 hours the two nights before and after, and avoid smoking in that window. If you’ve struggled to respond to HBV shots in the past, talk to your clinician about timing, vitamin D status, and follow-up titers.

A final note in our voice: the science is unfolding, and no single study has all the answers. Still, given what we know about sleep and immune function—and the HBV data above—it’s prudent to go into vaccination as rested as your schedule allows.

This post is for education, not medical advice; please partner with your clinician on decisions about vaccination and lab follow-up.

Author: R.E. Hengsterman, MSN, MA, M.E., RN

Registered nurse, night-shift administrator, and author of The Shift Worker’s Paradox

Nursewhowrites.com

For educational purposes only. Not medical advice.