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A groundbreaking study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2024 Meeting in Toronto, Canada, reveals that administering the rotavirus vaccine to babies in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) is not only safe but also does not cause outbreaks of the disease.
Rotaviruses pose a significant threat to infants and young children, being a leading cause of diarrheal disease. To combat this, vaccines containing weakened forms of the virus are administered via drops to induce a robust immune response. However, concerns over transmission in NICU settings have limited vaccination in this vulnerable population.
Conducted by researchers from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, US, the study aimed to address this concern by analyzing 3,448 weekly stool samples from 774 NICU patients over the course of a year, from January 2021 to January 2022.
The findings were striking: “99.3 percent of non-vaccinated patients exposed to vaccinated patients did not test positive for the disease. Non-vaccinated patients that contracted rotavirus had no symptoms after 14 days,” reported the study’s lead neonatologist, Dr. Kathleen Gibbs, MD, from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Dr. Gibbs emphasized the significance of the study’s results, stating, “Our yearlong, prospective study done in collaboration with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that the benefits of vaccinating NICU patients against rotavirus outweigh the risks.”
“In-patient vaccination allows protection of a vulnerable population against a common, preventable cause of severe diarrheal illness,” she added.
The study’s implications are profound, particularly considering that many NICUs have been hesitant to administer the rotavirus vaccine due to concerns about potential transmission. Additionally, some infants may be too old to receive the vaccine once discharged from the NICU, underscoring the importance of vaccinating this population during their hospital stay.
According to CDC guidelines, the first dose of the rotavirus vaccine must be administered before 15 weeks of age, further emphasizing the importance of vaccination in NICU settings.
The study findings presented at the PAS 2024 Meeting shed new light on the safety and effectiveness of administering the rotavirus vaccine in NICUs, providing reassurance to healthcare providers and parents alike.
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