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. 2021 Mar 4;47(2):97-104.
doi: 10.14745/ccdr.v47i02a02.

The impact of publicly funded rotavirus immunization programs on Canadian children

Pia K Muchaal  1 , Matt Hurst  1 , Shalini Desai  2
Affiliations

The impact of publicly funded rotavirus immunization programs on Canadian children

Pia K Muchaal et al. Can Commun Dis Rep. .

Abstract

Background: In 2008, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommended routine rotavirus immunizations in healthy Canadian infants. Over the following seven years, eight provinces and two territories introduced the rotavirus vaccine into their publicly funded immunization programs.

Objective: Assess the burden of rotavirus infections before and after implementation of publicly funded immunization programs.

Methods: We analyzed laboratory-confirmed community cases of rotavirus reported to the National Enteric Surveillance Program and hospitalizations of children younger than three years old from 2007 to 2017 with rotavirus diagnosis-specific ICD-10 codes. Rates of illness were calculated for each province for the two years prior to and after implementation of public funding of the vaccine. The year of implementation was not included to accommodate the uptake period of the vaccine. Age-specific rates were assessed in jurisdictions where five years of data were available the year after the vaccine was publicly funded. The pre-post and difference-in-difference (DID) methodologies were applied to hospital discharge data to evaluate changes between the funding and non-funding jurisdictions.

Results: Community cases of laboratory-confirmed rotavirus infection reported to the National Enteric Surveillance Program declined by 54% between 2010 and 2017. Rates of hospital discharges decreased significantly among children in six provinces after the adoption of the rotavirus vaccine. Hospital discharge rates in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Prince Edward Island dropped between 53% and 71%, and by 75% for British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

Conclusion: Public funding of the rotavirus vaccine appeared to lead to significant reductions in laboratory-confirmed rotavirus cases reported to the National Enteric Surveillance Program and in the rates of rotavirus gastroenteritis-related hospital discharges.

Keywords: burden; evaluation; intervention; rotavirus; vaccination.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Timeline of adoption of publicly funded rotavirus immunization programs by provinces, 2010–2015 Abbreviation: NACI, National Advisory Committee on Immunization
Figure 2
Figure 2
Weekly cases of laboratory-confirmed reported to National Enteric Surveillance Program, 2010–2017 Abbreviation: NESP, National Enteric Surveillance Program
Figure 3
Figure 3
Discharges per 100,000 of rotavirus gastroenteritis hospital discharges in the first five provinces to adopt the vaccine and New Brunswick, children younger than three years, by age group
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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