Introduction of immunisation against rotavirus in the UK

half of all cases of childhood diarrhoea and vomiting. By the age of five all children will have had at least once episode of gastroenteritis caused by rotavirus. In November 2012 the Department of Health announced that after a successful tendering process GlaxoSmithKline’s Rotarix vaccine would be introduced to the UK’s childhood immunisation schedule in September 2013.1 In the UK, childhood diarrhoea and vomiting remains a significant public health problem. Due to our high standards of food hygiene and good sanitation bacterial causes are now relatively uncommon but the viral causes (such as rotavirus) are too infectious to be controlled by these methods alone. Many vaccine-preventable diseases are rare but lead to high morbidity/mortality. Rotavirus vaccination in the UK requires a different paradigm. Deaths are rare and most children have a minor self-limiting illness managed at home without requiring medical treatment. Some children are more seriously affected, with an estimated 45 hospitalisations, 98 emergency department attendances and 230–440 GP attendances per 10 000 children under five per year, equating to an annual cost for the NHS of £14.2 million.2 But perhaps the most significant cost is the almost universal secondarily lost income and productivity for the parents and carers taking time to look after a child with what is a preventable illness.