New rotavirus vaccine now available at all SA clinics

The Department of Health has introduced a new liquid oral vaccine against rotavirus infection from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The vaccine is available for free at public health clinics around South Africa.

The aim of the vaccine is to prevent severe rotavirus gastroenteritis which causes diarrhoea, vomiting and can lead to dehydration. The vaccine is administered orally with an interval of at least four weeks between the two doses. The first dose should be given at 6 weeks, but not later than 14 weeks and the second dose at 14 weeks (but not later than 24 weeks). A child can not receive the second dose if the first does has not been administrated. The public is urged to ask clinic staff about the vaccination which will help protect their babies from rotavirus infection.

Children are vulnerable

Regardless of hygiene habits, any child is vulnerable to contracting rotavirus gastroenteritis, which stays on hands for at least four hours³ and is resilient to normal soap.³ Rotavirus vaccination is the most efficient way to prevent Rotavirus infections. However, this does not imply that washing hands is futile. Hand washing should still be encouraged to prevent diarrhoea from other sources e.g. bacteria.

Globally, rotavirus causes 111 million cases of infantile gastroenteritis, 25 million clinic visits and two million hospitalisations of children less than five years of age every year.1 The vast majority of deaths occur in developing countries such as the Indian subcontinent, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. To counter these alarming statistics in South Africa, the Department of Health has added the vaccine to its Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).

A first

South Africa is the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to include the rotavirus vaccine in the official vaccination calendar.

The introduction of the rotavirus vaccine into the South African immunization program is claimed to have the potential of reducing childhood morbidity and mortality in South Africa and assist the country toward achieving its target of reducing under-5 childhood morbidity by two-thirds by 2015 compared to 1990. The vaccine targets the most important pathogen causing severe diarrhoeal disease in South African children, as well as globally. Diarrhoeal disease accounts for approximately 16% of the estimated 57 000 deaths occurring annually in South African children under five-years of age says Prof Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Witwatersrand.

World-wide approval

To date, the vaccine has been approved in more than 110 countries and over 27 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed since it was first launched in Mexico in 2005.

The vaccine is included in the national immunisation programmes in Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, El Salvador, Brazil, Australia, Luxembourg, Austria, Ecuador, Peru, Bahrain, Qatar, Columbia, Bolivia, Belgium and United States.

President of GSK Biologicals, Jean Stéphenne, says introducing the vaccination is an important step for South Africa. “The inclusion of the vaccine in the South African Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) is significant in a country where rotaviral infection mortality rates are high in unprotected babies,” he says.

The vaccine is highly effective and can be co-administered with other vaccinations.

References:

1. Parashar UD, Hummelman EG, Bresee JS Miller MA, Glass RI. Global Illness And Deaths Caused By Rotavirus Disease In Children. Emerg Infect. Dis. 2003; 9(5):565-571.
2. Solarsh A, Goga A. South African Health review 2003/2004. Chapter 8: Child Health; 101-128
3. Dennehy PH, Transmission of rotavirus and other enteric pathogens in the home, Pediatr Infect DJ 2000; 19: S103-105.