Every child gets rotavirus, so every child should be able to get the vaccine. |
Protection for the world's poorest countries
Almost every child in the world has been infected with rotavirus, the most common cause of severe childhood diarrhea, by the age of five. In industrialized nations, where children with severe cases of rotavirus have ready access to health care, deaths due to rotavirus are rare: only about 40 each year in the United States. Globally, though, rotavirus kills more than half a million children every year—90 percent of whom live in developing countries, where lifesaving care can be hard to come by.
New oral vaccines can prevent severe cases of rotavirus. In the United States, Latin America, and Europe, these vaccines are already being added to routine immunizations. But it can take a lot longer for vaccines to become available in the developing world—in the past, as long as 15 years. That’s why we established the PATH Rotavirus Vaccine Program: to make rotavirus vaccines available where needed most, as rapidly as possible.
We’re overcoming a leading cause of death for young children—while shaping a global health model for introducing vaccines into routine immunization programs.
Uniting vaccine supply and demand
The model for vaccine introduction focuses on both sides of the vaccine supply–demand equation. The idea is to establish a predictable demand to achieve a stable vaccine supply at a feasible price.
We are helping potential vaccine purchasers at the global, national, and local levels acquire the information they need to allocate appropriate resources for rotavirus vaccine. This information includes data on disease burden, vaccine safety and efficacy, and the potential costs of vaccine introduction.
We are also collecting the information that manufacturers need to justify investment in rotavirus vaccines and working to overcome demand uncertainty, which can be a barrier to ensuring vaccine availability in developing countries. We’re setting the stage for manufacturers to offer vaccine at an affordable price to a dependable market.
Why haven’t people heard about rotavirus?
Although children have long suffered from it, rotavirus was only clinically discovered in 1973. It has taken many years to get a sound estimate on the burden of disease, and only now is a vaccine becoming a reality.
A vaccine represents the most promising method for preventing rotavirus infection. The virus is so contagious and resilient that simple measures like encouraging hand washing and providing clean water, so effective in curbing other diarrheal diseases, just don’t work well enough. And the vomiting caused by rotavirus infection makes oral rehydration therapy, long the standard treatment for diarrheal disease, far less effective.
However, it will be some time before the new vaccines reach every part of the world where they’re needed. Traditional interventions—like oral rehydration therapy—are still very efficient at saving lives. PATH is working to reinvigorate broader diarrheal disease control efforts, promoting treatments and preventive measures that have fallen out of use despite their effectiveness.
Galvanizing the global health community
PATH is playing a key role in evaluating the safety of new rotavirus vaccines for children in the developing world. In collaboration with vaccine manufacturers, we’re conducting clinical trials in Africa and Asia to assess the safety and efficacy of these vaccines.
Over the next few years, we’ll continue to work with the World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other partners to harness the commitment and resources of the vaccine industry, public health organizations, donors, and governments to demonstrate and replicate a successful model for introducing new vaccines like these—and to make rotavirus vaccines accessible worldwide.
Photo: Richard Lord.