rotavirus vaccine

We began clinical trials of a new vaccine to protect infants against rotavirus in 2010. 

Rotavirus, the leading cause of severe dehydrating gastroenteritis in infants, leads to more than 500,000 deaths worldwide each year, mostly in developing countries.

Whilst the number of Australian children that die from rotavirus infection is very low, it does result in 10,000 hospitalisations and 115,000 GP visits every year - at an annual cost of $30 million to the Australian health care system.

Unlike current vaccines which are given to babies from six weeks of age, this is the first vaccine in the world developed specifically for newborns, to help protect babies earlier.

The clinical trial was undertaken in Melbourne, and two larger international trials to have commenced in Indonesia and New Zealand. The vaccine has been developed in collaboration with Indonesian vaccine manufacturer BioFarma.

Murdoch Childrens Research Institute aims to develop a vaccine at a lower cost than current commercial vaccines, so that it is more affordable to developing countries where it is most needed.

The vaccine candidate is the culmination of almost four decades of research in Australia by Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne and the University of Melbourne, following the discovery of rotavirus by a team of staff led by Professor Ruth Bishop in 1973.