Rotavirus vaccine — a new hope

Diarrhoea due to Rotavirus is the leading cause of mortality among children less than 5 years of age in developing countries. Though Rotavirus vaccine has been approved by FDA since 2006 it has not been incorporated in the EPI schedule of Pakistan. Objective of our study was to explore the clinical efficacy, cost effectiveness and safety of Rotavirus vaccine in infants and children against diarrhoea caused by Rotavirus. Online search yielded a total of 103 articles out of which 31 articles were included for perusal. Newly-developed vaccines have been found to have combined efficacy of 61.2-64.6% in African Countries and 82.1-84.7% in Europe and Latin America against Rotavirus-induced diarrhoea. Rotavirus vaccine is a very effective option in terms of efficacy, cost and safety against viral diarrhoea caused by Rotavirus. Consideration should be given to include this vaccine in EPI programme of developing countries.