Administering the rotavirus vaccine to babies in the neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) is safe and does not cause any outbreaks of the disease, according to a new study.
Rotaviruses are majorly responsible for diarrhoeal disease among infants and young children. The vaccine, which contains a weakened form of the virus to produce a stronger immune response, is administered via drops.
Researchers from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, US noted that preterm infants, usually kept in the NICU, are at higher risk of the highly contagious but preventable virus, yet few receive the vaccine over transmission fears.
To understand, the team conducted an analysis of 3,448 weekly stool samples from 774 patients between January 2021 and January 2022.