Rotavirus Vaccination of Premature Newborns in the NICU: Evaluation of Vaccination Rates and Safety Based on a Single-Centre Study

Abstract

Preterm newborns are babies born before the end of the 36th week of gestational life. They are at increased risk of infection and death from infectious diseases. This is due, among other things, to the immaturity of the immune system and the long hospitalisation period. One common infectious disease in the paediatric population is rotavirus (RV) infection. We now have specific vaccines against this pathogen. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety of rotavirus vaccination in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) setting and to determine the tolerance of this vaccine in low- and extremely low-weight children. The study carried out at a single centre, the University Hospital in Kraków, also allowed the assessment of vaccination trends during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. During the observation period, 126 premature newborns received the RV vaccine. We observed no adverse effects, and our analysis shows safety and good tolerance of the vaccine among preterm babies. In addition, we observed an increase in vaccination rates between 2019 and 2021, partly explained by parents’ anxiety about infectious diseases in the era of pandemics and partly explained by a change in vaccination policy in Poland and the introduction of refunding for RV vaccination.

Keywords

• rotavirus
• vaccines
• new-born
• neonatology
• neonatal intensive care unit
• vaccinology