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December 06, 2002
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Evaluation of Rotavirus Vaccine Effectiveness in a Pediatric Group
Practice"
American Journal of Epidemiology (www.aje.oupjournals.org) (11/01/02) Vol.
156, No. 11, P. 1049; Mato, Sayonara Pérez; Perrin, Keith; Scardino, Dana
Clinical trials are useful to test the efficacy of drugs and vaccines, but
they review products under optimal conditions with careful guidance from
administrators. A better method to test medicines for the good of public
health is to monitor their use in clinical practice. To that effect, a
rotavirus vaccine was observed in its effectiveness in the prevention of
rotavirus-related hospitalization in children aged three years or younger.
Computer records from an urban pediatric practice in New Orleans, La., were
reviewed for children born between April 1, 1998, and June 1, 1999,
numbering 1,413 patients who could have received the rhesus rotavirus
vaccine-tetravalent. Also included were hospital records of all rotavirus
hospitalizations during the period October 1998 to June 2001. In all,
1,099 children were considered for the study, including 513 who did not
receive the vaccine and 586 who were vaccinated. The rate of
hospitalization for rotavirus was 0.52 per 100 child years for unvaccinated
patients, 0.20 per 100 child years for children given one or two doses of
the vaccine, and 0.0 for those provided with all three doses. The
protective vaccine effectiveness was 61 percent among children with partial
dosing and 100 percent among those with the full vaccine dose schedule.
The vaccine prevented one hospitalization for rotavirus among 104 infants
partially vaccinated and one episode for each 64 children fully vaccinated.
ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND
MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.