Rotavirus Vaccine

Rotavirus infections are the single greatest cause of diarrhea-related deaths among children, causing an estimated 611,000 deaths in infants and young children worldwide each year. The sudden onset of symptoms causes the health of children with rotavirus to decline rapidly, resulting in a high number of infants requiring treatment, including hospitalization.

Rotavirus vaccines have the potential to save more than 2.5 million lives by 2025. The vaccines are already in use in North America, Latin America, and Europe, and they are urgently needed in Africa and Asia, where mortality and morbidity are most severe.

Researchers from Family Health International (FHI) -- working in partnership with Merck and Co., Inc, and the public health organization PATH, and with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization (WHO) -- have been studying the efficacy and safety of one such vaccine: the orally administered RotaTeq, which Merck manufactures.

This vaccine has already been shown to be safe and effective in large-scale clinical trials in Europe, Latin America, and the United States, and the WHO has recommended initiating national immunization programs there. Because, historically, orally administered vaccines have not performed in the same way across geographic settings, researchers have been conducting additional trials of RotaTeq in Africa and Asia. 

If the vaccine proves to be safe and effective in Africa and Asia, national immunization programs subsidized by the nonprofit GAVI Alliance can begin on these continents, as well.

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