Routine Rotavirus Vaccination Has Reduced Healthcare Use

Investigators used insurance claims data from 37 states to compare rates of diarrhea-associated healthcare use in children younger than 5 years during 5 years before (July 2001 to June 2006) and 2 years after (July 2007 to June 2009) routine vaccination of U.S. infants with pentavalent rotavirus vaccine (RV5).

The annual rate of rotavirus-associated diarrhea among children younger than 5 years dropped by about 75% during the first 2 years after routine vaccination (from 14 to 4 hospitalizations per 10,000 person-years). By the end of 2008, an estimated 73% of children younger than 1 year had received at least one dose of RV5. The overall decline in disease was proportional to the increased rates of vaccine coverage. The authors estimated tha…