WHO says vaccine will protect children

The rotavirus vaccination should be implemented in national immunisation programmes as it has the potential to protect up to 500,000 child deaths annually, it has been claimed.

The World Health Organization recommended this week that the treatment can defend against a virus that causes these fatalities as well as two million hospitalisations each year.

Africa and Asia are the primary places of these events; over 85 per cent of the deaths from rotavirus occur there.

Dr Tachi Yamada is president of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and said imminent action is needed to stop these.

“This WHO recommendation clears the way for vaccines that will protect children in the developing world from one of the most deadly diseases they face,” he added.

According to the NHS, rotavirus infections are very common in young children and every infant is likely to experience one by the age of five.