Rotavirus Vaccine Works for Premature Infants, Too

The newly available vaccine to prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis in infants, RotaTeq, is a live pentavalent preparation. It was shown to be efficacious in a manufacturer-sponsored study in which nearly 70,000 infants aged 6 to 12 months were given three doses of vaccine or placebo at 4- to 10-week intervals (Journal Watch Infectious Diseases Jan 27 2006). In the original publication, however, the authors did not break down efficacy by gestational age. Now, the same study team has analyzed the data for healthy infants born prematurely.

Of the 2066 infants with gestational ages of 25 to 36 weeks, 1005 received vaccine and 1061 received placebo. No hospitalizations or emergency-room visits for rotavirus gastroenteritis occurred among vaccine re…