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All babies may be vaccinated against a dangerous stomach bug
All babies may be vaccinated against a dangerous stomach bug that is a leading cause of hospital admissions for the under fives after officials asked for a cost effectiveness analysis
A vaccine against rotavirus has been available for years but has not been offered universally in Britain due to cost
Now ministers have asked for a cost effectiveness analysis to be conducted with a view to giving the vaccine to all babies
Rotavirus is a major cause of diarrhoea which can be life threatening in small children
There are around 130000 cases of rotavirus annually in England and Wales with almost 13000 admitted to hospital
Each year around a dozen children under the age of five will die from rotavirus
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It has been estimated that the vaccine which is administered orally as drops could cut cases by almost three quarters
An evaluation by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation in 2009 found that vaccines provided good protection against infection but introduction of rotavirus vaccines would only become costeffective if the vaccine prices are much less than those at which they are currently being offered
Later that year the World Health Organisation recommended rotavirus be included in all national immunisation programmes
According to Pulse magazine the Department of Health has now invited bids from vaccine companies to assess if it would be costeffective to introduce it as part of the childhood vaccination programme
The bids will cover vaccinating an estimated 800000 infants
Dr David Salisbury Director of Immunisation at the Department of Health said quotThe JCVI has recommended a vaccination programme for prevention of rotavirus infection the commonest cause of diarrhoea in UK children
quotThe Department of Health has invited companies to submit tenders The vaccine will need to be available at a costeffective pricequot
The development has been welcomed by GP experts Dr George Kassianos RCGP immunisation lead and a GP in Bracknell Berkshire said it was excellent news
Dr Kassianos told Pulse quotThe RCGP has been asking for the introduction of this vaccine in the UK schedule now for some time
quotWe can easily add one of these two vaccines to our immunisation schedule at 2 3 and 4 months I do hope there will be no further delay in implementing a rotavirus immunisation programme in the UKquot
Dr Saul Faust a specialist in paediatric infectious diseases at Southampton General Hospital and senior lecturer at the University of Southampton said Rotavirus has a major impact on primary and secondary care resources but also economically to the UK due to the amount of time it causes parents to have off work to look after children who cant go to nursery or school
One of the main problems is that none of the currently accepted ways of measuring quality of life takes into account issues that affect children or families so that the real human and financial costs can be calculated to demonstrate why introducing the vaccine would be worthwhile
Date : 19 May, 2012
Reference : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9274847/All-babies-may-be-vaccinated-against-a-dangerou