Rotavirus vaccination was highly effective at preventing death in children hospitalized with rotavirus-caused acute gastroenteritis, according to a newly published study. This study provides more evidence that the rotavirus vaccine is a critical step in preventing harm to children.

Before the introduction of the vaccine in the USA in 2006, rotavirus infection caused significant morbidity among U.S. children, with an estimated 55,000–70,000 hospitalizations and 410,000 clinic visits annually. According to another analysis of 10 years of rotavirus infections in the USA before the vaccine’s introduction, rotavirus was estimated to cause approximately 2.7 million (yes, million) cases of severe gastroenteritis, 60,000 hospitalizations, and 37 deaths annually.

This post will examine this new study and what it tells us about the effectiveness of the rotavirus vaccine.

All about rotavirus

Rotaviruses are the most common cause of diarrheal disease among infants and young children across the world. Nearly every child is infected with one of the nine rotaviruses at least once before five years.

The virus is transmitted by the fecal-oral route, usually from contaminated objects, food, or unwashed hands. Rotavirus infection is mostly observed in infants and young children. However, older children and adults can be infected.

The virus infects and damages the cells lining the small intestine, causing gastroenteritis, which some people incorrectly call the “stomach flu,” a disease that does not exist.

Rotavirus circulates easily in schools, daycare centers, and within households. Good hygiene (handwashing) and cleanliness are important, but are not enough to control the spread of the disease. You can be immaculately clean, but the virus can still move from person to person.

Once a person is exposed to the virus, symptoms appear within two days. Thus, the disease can move from person to person before symptoms appear.

Complications of rotavirus infection are not minor. Children who get infected may have severe watery diarrhea, often with vomiting, fever, and abdominal pain. These symptoms can last for 3-8 days, during which the child has to be closely watched for dehydration and loss of appetite, dangerous conditions for infants and children.

A rotavirus infection can lead to intussusception, a rare but serious complication where one part of the intestine slides into another, blocking the intestine and cutting off blood flow. This condition requires immediate medical attention.

Worldwide, more than 450,000 children under five years of age still die from rotavirus infection each year. Think about that–nearly one-half million children die from a disease that could be prevented by a simple vaccine, every single year.

The oral rotavirus vaccine easily prevents infection and its complications. Unfortunately, as I wrote earlier, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his anti-vaccine sycophants in CDC leadership have moved the rotavirus vaccine from “recommended” to “shared clinical decision-making.” Instead of making sure children are protected from the dangerous disease, a decision on the vaccine is left up to random conversations between a healthcare worker and the parents.

Of course, this change confuses parents. If the vaccine is safe, effective, and prevents a dangerous disease, the CDC should recommend it. This change could lead to thousands of additional hospitalizations in the US from the disease.

Rotavirus vaccine and gastroenteritis paper

In a paper published on 12 August 2026 in Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, Mary Moran, PhD, MPH, CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases, and colleagues analyzed data from 22 countries between July 2007 and August 2023 in the Multi-National Subpopulations Study to Evaluate Rotavirus Vaccines (MNSSTER-V). The researchers included 27,252 children younger than age 5 years who presented to a hospital or emergency department with acute gastroenteritis, defined as at least three episodes of non-bloody, non-chronic diarrhea in 24 hours.

Here are the key results:

• Among children ages 3 months to 4 years, receiving at least one dose of a rotavirus vaccine was 75.8% effective at preventing death from rotavirus-positive acute gastroenteritis.
• Compared with children who received at least one dose of rotavirus vaccine, those with no reported rotavirus vaccination were nearly 14X more likely to die from acute gastroenteritis.

Moran and her colleagues wrote:

As younger infants are more likely to die due to acute gastroenteritis and rotavirus, this study supports timely rotavirus vaccination in all settings. Additionally, given the higher diarrhea mortality rate among children with chronic diseases, increasing vaccination coverage could provide indirect protection to these children who are at a higher risk.

Summary

This study shows that the rotavirus vaccine is extremely effective in preventing death from gastroenteritis in infants. It is literally a vaccine that saves lives.

I don’t know what else to write. It’s a safe vaccine, despite anti-vaccine claims. Yet, despite its effectiveness in saving babies’ lives, the RFK Jr regime has moved the vaccine to shared clinical decision-making instead of highly recommending it.

Get the rotavirus vaccine for your children to keep them out of the hospital or worse, dying from the disease.

Citations

• Burnett E, Umana J, Anwari P, Mujuru HA, Groome MJ, Van Trang N, Iniguez V, Gheorghita S, Sahakyan G, Nazurdinov A, Michael F, Mandomando I, Desormeaux AM, Eraliev U, Enweronu-Laryea C, Nalunkuma C, Bonkoungou I, Muhsen K, Luhata Lungayo C, Omore R, Goldfarb DM, Robinson AL, McCracken J, Uwimana J, N’Zue K, Rey-Benito G, Weldegebriel G, Mwenda JM, Parashar UD, Tate JE. Rotavirus Vaccine Effectiveness Stratified By National-Level Characteristics: An Introduction to the 24-Country MNSSTER-V Project, 2007-2023. J Infect Dis. 2025 Aug 14;232(2):308-315. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiae597. PMID: 39607893; PMCID: PMC12442247.
• Moran MC, Burnett E, Groome MJ, Michael F, Breiman RF, Robinson AL, Iniguez V, Mujuru HA, Goldfarb DM, Lungayo CL, Mandomando I, Bonkoungou IJO, Anwari P, Contreras-Roldán I, Enweronu-Laryea C, N’Zue K, Nalunkuma C, Trang NV, Gheorghita S, Sahakyan G, Nazurdinov A, Latipov R, Uwimana J, Rey-Benito G, Weldegebriel G, Mwenda JM, Parashar UD, Tate JE; Multi-National Subpopulations Study to Evaluate Rotavirus Vaccines (MNSSTER-V) project working group. Rotavirus vaccine effectiveness against rotavirus and acute gastroenteritis mortality: an analysis of pooled case-control studies from the MNSSTER-V dataset. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2026 Aug 12:S2352-4642(26)00158-6. doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(26)00158-6. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42586106.

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