Health Impact of Rotavirus Vaccination in Developing Countries: Progress and Way Forward

Abstract

Two rotavirus vaccines have been licensed in >100 countries worldwide since 2006. As of October 2105, these vaccines have been implemented in the national immunization programs of 79 countries, including 36 low-income countries that are eligible for support for vaccine purchase from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Rotavirus vaccines were initially introduced in Australia and countries of the Americas and Europe after completion of successful clinical trials in these regions, and the impact of routine vaccination in reducing the health burden of severe childhood gastroenteritis in these regions has been well documented. Because of concerns around the performance of orally administered rotavirus vaccines in developing countries, vaccine implementation in these settings only began after additional clinical trials were completed and the World Health Organization issued a global recommendation for use of rotavirus vaccines in 2009. This supplementary issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases includes a collection of articles describing the impact and effectiveness of routine rotavirus vaccination in developing countries that were among the early adopters of rotavirus vaccine. The data highlight the benefits of vaccination and should provide valuable evidence to sustain vaccine use in these countries and encourage other countries to adopt routine rotavirus vaccination to reduce the health burden of severe childhood gastroenteritis.

Keywords: developing countries; effectiveness; impact; rotavirus; rotavirus vaccines.

Figure 1.

National rotavirus vaccine introduction, by geographic region, as of 1 October 2015. Source: PATH rotavirus vaccine country introduction maps available at http://sites.path.org/rotavirusvaccine/country-introduction-maps-and-spreadsheet/. Abbreviation: UAE, United Arab Emirates.