FK-KMK UGM. The Center for Child Health Studies-Pediatric Research Office (PKKA-PRO) of the Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing UGM held a Guest Lecture with the theme “Vaccine Journey and Implementation Issue” on Friday (27/10) at the Auditorium on the 1st floor of the Tahir Postgraduate Building.

Julie Binnes MBBS, FRACP, MD, FAHMS from the University of Melbourne was the guest speaker in this activity presenting the material “From Discovery to Implementation: The Development Journey to RV3-BB Rotavirus Vaccine”. Before the public could generally use the rotavirus vaccine, more than 600,000 deaths each year were caused by Rotavirus Gastroenteritis.

Today rotavirus is still the cause of death for more than 200,000 children under five years old. This does not include children who are hospitalized with rotavirus.

There are several challenges to rotavirus vaccine introduction in the Asia-Pacific region, including cost, global vaccine gaps, competition in the crowded infant vaccine schedule, preference for local vaccines, and cultural aspects.

To reduce rotavirus mortality, more needs to be done such as narrowing gaps in access to vaccines, vaccine coverage, and supply gaps.

If this can be realized, then we have succeeded in contributing to achieving good health and well-being, as in the third point of the SDG. However, there are still many challenges that must be resolved even in the phase of introducing vaccines to the public.  For this reason, interdisciplinary collaboration must be carried out so that the strategy for training and using vaccines can run well. (Nirwana/Reporter)