Rotavirus vaccination within the South African Expanded Programme on Immunisation

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Vaccinology
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Diarrhoeal diseases are a leading cause of mortality in South African children under 5.
• Rotavirus acute severe dehydrating diarrhoea significantly contributes to childhood mortality and morbidity in South Africa.
• South Africa was the first in the WHO African Region to implement a rotavirus vaccine in its national childhood immunization program in August 2009.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the epidemiology of rotavirus in South Africa.
• To outline the steps involved in introducing the rotavirus vaccine into the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).
• To highlight the early impact of rotavirus vaccination on disease burden reduction.

Main Methods:

• Review of rotavirus epidemiology in South Africa.
• Description of the process for rotavirus vaccine introduction into the EPI.
• Analysis of post-marketing surveillance data from Dr George Mukhari hospital, a sentinel site with over 20 years of rotavirus surveillance.

Main Results:

• The paper reviews rotavirus epidemiology and vaccine introduction strategies in South Africa.
• Post-marketing surveillance data from a long-standing sentinel site indicates a positive early impact of the rotavirus vaccine.
• Vaccination is shown to be reducing the burden of rotavirus disease in the studied population.

Conclusions:

• The introduction of the Rotarix rotavirus vaccine into South Africa's EPI program is a key preventive strategy.
• Early post-marketing surveillance suggests the vaccine is effective in reducing rotavirus disease burden.
• Continued surveillance is crucial for monitoring the long-term impact of rotavirus vaccination.