Rotavirus is a leading cause of severe acute gastroenteritis in infants and young children.  The virus causes more than 2 million hospitalizations for diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration,  and nearly 600,000 deaths among children under five — approximately one child per minute — worldwide each year.¹  Eighty percent of rotavirus-related deaths occur in developing countries.  ROTATEQ^® (rotavirus vaccine, live, oral pentavalent), a vaccine to help prevent rotavirus disease has been available in the United States since 2006.   The widespread adoption of rotavirus vaccines is an important component of helping to achieve the full public health impact that rotavirus vaccination could have in developing countries.

In order to prioritize the introduction of ROTATEQ in the developing world, further efforts to highlight the medical need and to enhance the appreciation of prevalence and severity of the illness are needed.  Above all, establishing a precedent for the successful introduction of a new vaccine and providing evidence for the subsequent public health benefits these vaccines can have in GAVI-eligible countries is an important  global health priority.

The content on this page was last modified on November 21, 2008.

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¹Parashar UD, Hummelman EG, Bresee JS, Miller MA, Glass RI. Global illness and deaths caused by rotavirus disease in children. Emerg. Infect. Dis. [serial online] 2003. click here