Today we will be interested in vaccination against rotavirus. This vaccination is not mandatory, but many are thinking about how to make it to their child. Is it worth it? What is rotavirus in general? Why is it dangerous? What could be the consequences of vaccination? All about rotavirus infection and the vaccine against it will be presented below. Think carefully before vaccinating your baby. Maybe she is not needed at all.
Rotavirus is ...
First, let's figure out what infection we are dealing with. This question is extremely important. After all, it is always important to know what kind of disease is involved. Rotavirus is an infection that is the most common cause of vomiting and diarrhea in babies. It usually proceeds in a mild form, but complications can occur.
As practice shows, most often rotavirus disease occurs in children under the age of 5 years. The older the child, the lower the risk of certain side effects. In principle, some rotaviruses are not afraid. To some extent this is correct. Vaccination against rotavirus is not included in the list of obligatory ones, which means that you can refuse it without any problems. But what is the danger of this disease? Why do many parents still get the appropriate vaccinations?
Danger of disease
The fact is that rotavirus infection can be quite dangerous. For adults and older children, it does not cause much harm. Unpleasantly, it passes after some time and does not bring a fatal outcome or serious complications.
But if we talk about small children (just they most often suffer from rotavirus), then everything is a little different. After all, this disease leads to dehydration. It, in turn, will be extremely dangerous, as it can lead to death. Not so often, but there have been such cases.
In addition, a rotovirus infection can lead to bowel problems. For example, to intestinal invagination. Only there is one more small point that will have to be taken into account - a vaccine against rotavirus will not protect the child from this consequence.
In other words, our current disease is dangerous in that it leads to dehydration. And of course, it is accompanied by various symptoms of infection - vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, fever and general malaise. We'll have to take this into account.
At what age do
Many people think at what age to start vaccination if a decision has been made on vaccination. And here, as a rule, there are no clear restrictions. Vaccination against rotavirus for adults is practically not done. Moreover, it almost does not bring any effect and a positive result. But for children - easily.
At what age is the first vaccination given? In general, it is recommended to carry it out no later than 2 months of the baby's life. Indeed, vaccination against rotovirus infections in children under one year of age often helps to protect an immature organism from danger.
By the way, vaccination is carried out in 2 stages. That is, you will have to do re-vaccination. Moreover, it should not be later than 8 months of the baby's life. It is advisable, as doctors say, to vaccinate the child again at 4 months. This approach will reduce the risk of infection. But is the vaccine so safe? Is it really worth it? What do doctors and parents think about this?
Virus diversity
To be honest, here opinions are divided. And it’s difficult to answer exactly what vaccine receives from Rotavirus reviews. Each parent himself must come to one or another conclusion.
The first reason that some people refuse vaccination is nothing but the variety of rotavirus infection. You can compare it with the flu. That is, often vaccination cannot protect the baby from all varieties of our current disease. It follows that the risk of infection still exists. So, there is no point in vaccination. That's exactly what some parents say. Often after vaccination, children still become infected with rotavirus. Not the best outcome, especially after vaccination. This all suggests that the vaccine against rotavirus is not very effective. In any case, after it there is still a chance of infection due to the variety of infections.
Not dangerous
What else can you pay attention to? For example, the fact that the vaccine against rotavirus reviews is varied from parents. Some refuse vaccination because they consider this disease not too dangerous.
In principle, the way it is. If you consider the symptoms of this, you can notice: a rotovirus infection is vomiting and diarrhea. Not too dangerous if you think about it. As some parents assure, our current disease in itself is no more dangerous than the most common food poisoning. And dealing with it is easy. So, vaccination against rotavirus for children (and adults too) does not make any sense. After all, sometimes it’s easier to get some kind of infection so that later there is immunity to it (or at least the body was ready for a second collision) than to vaccinate and deal with the consequences. But parents must decide this on their own.
Inefficiency
Another reason why vaccination against rotavirus for children is not getting the best reviews (or rather, as ineffective vaccination). Doctors indicate the inefficiency thereof at a certain age. That is, in fact, the timing of this procedure is limited.
As already mentioned, rotovirus infections are most often affected by children at an early age, up to about 5 years. But the vaccine against rotavirus for children at 2 years old is already losing its effectiveness. That is, at this age there is no longer any sense in vaccination. So doctors say. If you did not decide on the procedure at an early age, then when he has grown up, there is no point in the vaccine. Indeed, in medicine today, most doctors insist on many vaccinations, even those that are not included in the list of mandatory ones by standards.
In other words, if we are talking about a very small child (up to about 8-12 months), then vaccination makes sense. But with age, he is lost. It turns out that the decision depends on how old the baby is.
Optional vaccination
It can also be assumed that the child should not be vaccinated once again against rotavirus infection just because this process is not included in the list of obligatory ones. In other words, it is carried out at will. You can be offered vaccination at the clinic, and the immediate decision is made independently.
In Russia, it has been customary recently to refuse unnecessary vaccinations. Especially for children. Too many unpleasant consequences in practice pop up after babies. Vaccination against rotovirus infections in adults, as we have already found out, makes no special sense. Yes, and children at a certain age from it will be a little useless. So, it’s quite logical to either hurry up with vaccination or completely abandon it.
If you trust only mandatory vaccinations, then you should not vaccinate a child against rotavirus. In particular, if your baby already has strong immunity. After all, such children, as a rule, have a reduced risk of infection. Why then once again torment the child? This is unnecessary stress for the baby and his body.
Not for all
Definitely not worth this vaccine if your child has any serious health problems. Even doctors say that vaccination against rotavirus infections is not suitable for everyone. There are a number of restrictions that simply prohibit this process.
For example, children with reduced immunity (too weak) cannot be vaccinated. In any case, until their organisms get stronger. In this case, doctors prescribe an individual vaccination plan at the request of the parents.
Severe chronic diseases, as well as a tendency to allergic reactions, are the next points that generally prohibit vaccination against rotavirus. With such phenomena, you should not even think about the process. Doctors simply forbid you to vaccinate. And they will warn you about how dangerous it is to not comply with these restrictions.
Any serious illness can cause refusal of vaccination. In other words, one should not be vaccinated against rotavirus if the baby has some serious illness. This may also include vomiting and diarrhea. In such circumstances, it is worthwhile to postpone the process until complete recovery. And only then decide again whether you really need this vaccine. Indeed, many, as already mentioned, refuse it.
Effects
Before conducting this or that vaccination, it is worth learning about what this process can lead to. Indeed, often vaccinations do not pass without certain consequences. They are able to push some away from vaccination.
With rotavirus infections, everything is much more complicated than with most other diseases. Why? The thing is that, as already mentioned, at a certain age, vaccination loses its meaning. Yes, and it does not give a 100% guarantee that the child will not become infected with this infection.
In addition, the consequences after vaccination are not too encouraging. They can be much more serious than any other vaccine. For example, as already mentioned, intestinal invagination can occur in a baby. This is not too frequent, but dangerous. He suffers 1 child out of 100,000 vaccinated. Already this indicator repels many and forces to abandon the procedure.
A number of mild effects are also noted. Although they are not too pleasant. After all, often after vaccination against rotavirus, babies develop diarrhea, vomiting, upset stomach, fever, weakness and lethargy. Excessive irritability, tearfulness is not excluded. Do not forget about allergic reactions! They also appear quite often. Children who are not prone to allergies often have a rash or irritation on their skin. In principle, not too dangerous. But sometimes you can confuse the disease with the consequences of vaccination.
Persistent immunity
A rotavirus vaccine is something that many are considering. After all, to do it or not is a rather difficult question. On the one hand, any vaccination is an additional guarantee that the child will not get sick. True, this is not always the case. On the other hand, in our case, the probability of collision with a rotavirus infection after the procedure is not reduced too much. As already mentioned, the effectiveness of vaccination is not very high.
Among other things, doctors say that in the human body the rotavirus develops a stable immunity over time without any additional measures. If a child by the age of five already several times (at least 2) will suffer this disease, then he gets a fairly large resistance to the virus. That is, it’s better to get sick several times and get a stable immunity to the disease than to constantly get vaccinations that will not completely protect against it.
conclusions
So we found out the vaccine against rotavirus for children at what age is done and whether it is effective. But it remains unclear whether it is necessary to agree to vaccination or not.
Everyone should decide this question for himself. In general, it all depends on many factors. If your child has a fairly stable immunity, there is nothing to fear. And given that rotovirus infections are complete, and vaccination often leads to the development of immunity to only one species, then it makes no special sense.
Yes, a rotavirus vaccine can sometimes help keep your baby safe. Especially at an early age. But, as practice shows, it is better to get an infectious disease several times and get immunity to it than to constantly vaccinate a child. Our case is no exception. So it is recommended not to vaccinate the child again if you yourself do not want to. Remember that vaccination against rotavirus does not give a 100% guarantee that the child will not become infected. So, it does not make much sense.