Rotavirus vaccine: benefits, schedule, and side effects

The baby's immune system is still dependent on the mother and is not yet fully formed. Therefore, a vaccine is needed to prevent your little one from contracting the disease. One type of vaccination or immunization for children included in the recommendation of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) is rotavirus. What is the rotavirus vaccine and why is it important to give it to your little one? Check out the full explanation below.

What is the rotavirus vaccine?

Quoting from the official website of the Indonesian Pediatric Association (IDAI), rotavirus immunization serves to prevent diarrhea caused by rotavirus. The name may sound familiar, but rotavirus is a type of virus that causes tract infections of the digestive system.

IDAI further explained that diarrhea in children is caused by infection and 60-70 percent is caused by rotavirus. This one virus spreads very easily among babies and children.

Rotavirus disease causes severe diarrhea, feverish vomiting, and stomach pain. Even the WHO says, children who suffer from rotavirus disease can become dehydrated and may need to be hospitalized.

Data from WHO states that in 2013, around 215 thousand children under 5 years of age died every year due to rotavirus infection. This condition can be prevented by administering the rotavirus vaccine which can be started as early as 6 weeks of age infants.

WHO also recommends that rotavirus immunization be included in the national immunization program, especially in Southeast Asian, South Asian and African countries.

How does the rotavirus vaccine work?

WHO recommends that the rotavirus vaccine starts at 6 weeks of age along with the DPT vaccine. Are these two vaccines safe to do together?

Both have a very low risk of intussusception (partially folded intestines), only 6 out of 100 thousand immunizations. This is what makes the rotavirus vaccine safe to administer together with the hepatitis B vaccine, DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus), and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV).

There are two types of rotavirus vaccines circulating in Indonesia, namely:

Rotateq

This type of rotavirus immunization is given 3 times. The first is when the baby is 6-14 weeks old and the second is 4-8 weeks after the first administration. For the third administration, given a maximum of 8 months of age.

The price of the rotateq rotavirus vaccine ranges from IDR 280,000 to IDR 320,000.

Rotarix

The next type of rotavirus immunization is rotarix which is given twice. First in babies aged 10 weeks and second when babies aged 14 weeks.

The maximum rotarix vaccine is given at 6 months of age. However, if at the age of 6-8 months the baby has not received this immunization, it does not need to be given because there are no safety studies.

Quoting from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the two rotavirus vaccines above have been clinically tested involving thousands of babies.

As a result, about 9 out of 10 babies who get the vaccine are protected from severe rotavirus diseases such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and behavior changes.

Meanwhile, about 7 to 8 out of 10 children will be protected from rotavirus disease if they get this immunization. So, rotavirus immunization is proven safe and effective to prevent rotavirus from spreading in your little one's body.

This is because before the vaccine was available, many children were hospitalized for rotavirus. Today, very few children who are immunized against rotavirus are hospitalized for rotavirus disease.

The price of the rotavirus type rotarix vaccine is around Rp. 320,000 - Rp. 360,000.

Who needs the rotavirus vaccine?

Children are particularly susceptible to rotavirus disease, such as severe diarrhea, so they need this immunization the most. The rotavirus vaccine is given orally into the mouth of a child. The following is the vaccine schedule recommended by IDAI:

Child age 2 months
Child age 4 months
Child age 6 months

The first rotavirus immunization must be given before the baby is 15 weeks old and this vaccine series must be complete before the baby turns 8 months of age.

What are the conditions that cause someone to delay the rotavirus vaccine?

Rotavirus immunization serves to prevent infection and digestive disorders. Are there any conditions that make the child need to delay, even not get the rotavirus vaccine?

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains on its official website that there are several conditions that make a person need to delay giving the rotavirus vaccine, such as:

The child has health problems
Medicines consumed by children
Parents' concerns about immunization

The above factors can be discussed with your doctor or other medical personnel, so that your child can get rotavirus immunization when the condition gets better.

However, doctors usually don't recommend that babies get the rotavirus vaccine if they have one of the following conditions:

Allergy to the ingredients in the rotavirus vaccine is life-threatening.
The child suffers from intussusception, a digestive disorder that makes part of the intestine fold and clogged.
Children have Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), a hereditary disease that affects the body to fight infection.

Your little one also needs to postpone giving the rotavirus vaccine if he is experiencing moderate or severe illness (diarrhea or vomiting) so he has to wait until he is cured.

If your baby's immune system seems to have weakened before giving the vaccine, you need to get a few things checked, such as:

Diseases that affect the immune system (HIV / AIDS)
Are doing treatment with steroid drugs or cancer

Consulting a doctor for some special conditions of your little one can make it easier for medical personnel to make decisions about vaccines. So, it is very important to tell the doctor about the condition that the child has.

What are the side effects of the rotavirus vaccine?

Some babies who get rotavirus immunization will not experience side effects, but sometimes some experience mild effects that can go away on their own. Severe immunization side effects are very rare.

Here are some of the side effects that your little one will experience after getting rotavirus immunization:

Mild side effects

Some of the minor problems that arise after getting rotavirus immunization are:

Cranky child
Diarrhea
Gag

This immunization effect will disappear by itself in a few days and is not dangerous. It is more dangerous if children are not immunized because they are very susceptible to contracting infectious diseases.

Serious side effects

There is a risk that your child will develop intussusception after getting the rotavirus vaccine, but this is very rare.

Intussusception is a condition of intestinal blockage because part of the intestine folds so that the distribution of food and fluids is stagnant. This condition requires surgical operation to treat it.

Intussusception occurs one week after the child receives the first vaccine. Although scary, this serious side effect only occurs once in 20 thousand to 100 thousand immunizations in children.

Therefore, this effect is categorized as very rare.

Apart from intussusception, very severe allergic reactions can also occur, although they are very rare. The odds are only 1 in 1 million of immunizations and can occur within minutes or hours of getting the vaccine.

When to see a doctor

You should take your child to the doctor when your little one has serious, worrisome side effects. A sign that your child has intussusception is that your little one does not stop crying at the same time as a stomachache.

Signs that your baby has stomach pain include pulling on the legs, bending them, and sticking them to the chest.

Signs of a severe allergy that are dangerous also need to be treated directly to a doctor, such as:

Itchy rash
Swelling of the face and throat
Difficulty breathing

This condition will start a few minutes to hours after the child gets immunized. If you experience this, contact your doctor immediately. If you have trouble, you can immediately take your little one to the hospital.

Once there, tell the medical staff that the child has just received the rotavirus vaccine. This will make it easier for doctors to identify problems that occur in children.