Article in Japanese

Effect of public expense for the rotavirus vaccine on the rate of vaccination and the rate of hospitalization during a local epidemic of rotavirus enteritis

Yuko SATO^1,2), Yukari YAMAKI²⁾, Hiroki KAJINO²⁾

An epidemic of rotavirus (RV) enteritis epidemic occurred between April and July 2015 in three towns neighboring this hospital. Children in the towns of Shari and Koshimizu received the RV vaccine, with public expense covered by their local governments, while children in Abashiri received it at their own expense. This study examined the effect of public expense for the RV vaccine on the rate of vaccination as well as assessing the effect of vaccination on the rate of RV enteritis-related hospitalization during this local epidemic.
A total of 1,221 children under the age of 3 years was enrolled in this retrospective study. The RV vaccination rate was surveyed with cooperation from local governments and medical offices. All of the children in need of hospitalization were admitted to this hospital.
The vaccination rate was significantly higher in children from Shari and Koshimizu than that in those from Abashiri (93.8% vs. 44.2%, respectively, p<0.001). Furthermore, the rate of RV enteritis-related hospitalization was relatively lower in Shari and Koshimizu than in Abashiri (1.8% vs. 3.3%, respectively, p=0.13). In addition, the rate of hospitalization among the vaccinated children was significantly lower than among the non-vaccinated children (0.7% vs. 6.0%, respectively, p<0.001).
In conclusion, the public expense of RV vaccine increased the rate of RV vaccination. In addition, RV vaccination decreased the rate of RV enteritis-related hospitalization. Therefore, this study speculates that the public expense of RV vaccination may augment the level of herd immunity.

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1) Department of Pediatric, Mombetsu General Hospital
2) Department of Pediatric, Abashiri-Kosei General Hospital

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Received	October 24, 2016
Accepted	January 30, 2017

29 (1)：17─23,2017