Medical experts rubbish DA man's 'ineffective' vaccine claim

08 August 2016 - 16:41 By Katharine Child

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases says data shows the rotavirus vaccine given to babies to prevent severe diarrhea and death infants does work‚ contrary to a claim that there is a problem with the vaccine's effectiveness. Earlier on Monday‚ the Gauteng Democratic Alliance spokesman on health‚ Jack Bloom‚ suggested in a press release there was currently a problem with the rotavirus vaccines in Gauteng. The vaccine is given to infants to protects against multiple strains of the rotavirusm which can cause severe diarrhea and death.Bloom claimed there were increased cases in hospitals of babies with severe gastroenteritis who had been given the vaccine. He suggested this must mean there was a problem with the vaccine's effectiveness or the way vaccines were being transported."The companies producing the vaccines need to explain why they have not worked and ensure that babies are properly immunized against this highly contagious virus‚" Bloom said.But experts rubbished these claims.Director of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases Shabir Madhi‚ whose research led to the vaccine being included in South Africa's government programme‚ called Bloom's press release "poorly informed". He said the rotavirus vaccine did not protect against every case of rotavirus‚ there were other causes of diarrhea in infants and there were often seasonal spikes or sudden increases in rotavirus or diarrhea."Rotavirus while a very important cause of infantile diarrhea‚ is not the only cause of diarrhea in infants‚" said Lucille Blumberg‚ deputy director of institute.In fact‚ Madhi said "the rotavirus vaccine programme has been so effective that other viruses such as norovirus and bacteria are now proportionately more common causes of diarrhea compared to before we introduced rotavirus vaccine into the immunization program".The other reason blaming "ineffective" vaccines for an increase in cases is wrong is that it is normal to see were seasonal spikes in diarrhea."It is not uncommon to get a spike in diarrhea cases at this time of the year‚ including some rotavirus cases‚ since the virus circulation comes as epidemics. The magnitude of the epidemics are ‚ however‚ much lower then before we introduced rotavirus vaccine into the public immunization program‚" Madhi said.The vaccine does not protect against every rotavirus case either. "The rotavirus vaccine is only 70-75% effective in South Africa‚ which is higher than in many other low-income countries‚ but it has a had a tremendous impact on diarrheal hospitalization in South Africa- including a 40-50% reduction in all-cause diarrhea hospitalization‚" Madhi said.Blumberg said South Africa had a long-standing monitoring programme for rotavirus‚ with sites in a number of hospitals‚ with institute having played a key role in this for some years."The programme monitors for the different strains and over the past few years there is good evidence to support the protective effect of the vaccine for the strains that have circulated and the efficacy of the vaccine‚" Blumberg said...

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