University of Melbourne study – Edexlive

Pneumonia vaccines can potentially reduce the impact of viruses such as Covid-19, the researchers said, adding that it has reduced disease and death in patients with pneumonia, severe lung conditions and rotavirus, a common disease that causes diarrhea. severe and vomiting. The research team led by the University of Melbourne, which worked with Fiji’s Ministry of Health and Medical Services, said the findings underscore the importance of vaccines and how they can potentially reduce the impact of viruses such as Covid. -19.

Published in the journal Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, the first study looked at Fiji’s national rotavirus vaccination program five years after it became the first independent Pacific Island country to introduce the vaccine in 2012.

According to the researchers, rotavirus is severely contagious and the most common cause of diarrheal disease among infants and young children. It can even cause death in extreme cases. After taking the vaccine, morbidity and mortality from rotavirus and all-cause diarrhea in Fiji decreased in those between the ages of two months and 55 years. Admissions for rotavirus diarrhea in the largest hospital among children under the age of five fell by 87%.

These reductions were most likely due to the vaccine as outbreaks of rotavirus diarrhea remained subdued for the five years following the introduction of the vaccine. At the same time, in 2012, the government of Fiji introduced a routine infant immunization schedule for the ten valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV10) using three primary doses and no booster doses. Published in “The Lancet Global Health,” this second study looked at hospital admission rates for children with pneumonia at three public tertiary hospitals in Fiji.

Five years after the vaccine was introduced, hospital admissions for all-cause pneumonia had declined for children aged 24 to 59 months. Mortality decreased by 39% among infants between the ages of two and 24 months who were admitted to hospitals with pneumonia, bronchiolitis and asthma in all cases. The study showed the effect of the PCV10 vaccine and supported its introduction for children in other low- and middle-income countries in that region. “These findings provide evidence to support the likely benefits of PCV10 in reducing pneumonia in children in Fiji,” said study lead researcher Fiona Russell of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the University of Melbourne.