Rotavirus vaccine support timeline

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With donor support, GAVI plans to introduce rotavirus vaccine in more than 40 countries by 2015

Scroll down the page to trace the latest rollouts of rotavirus vaccines country by country

	2006
November 2006	Nicaragua The global effort to accelerate the availability of rotavirus vaccines in the developing world reaches a landmark with the first infants vaccinated against rotavirus in Nicaragua. Nicaragua’s President Enrique Bolaños hosts the launch of nationwide rotavirus immunisation at his home in Managua.
	2008
July 2008	Bolivia With a successful track record of introducing immunisation programmes, Bolivia was well-placed to take a lead in deploying the rotavirus vaccine.
	2009
December 2009	Honduras With the support of GAVI and its partners, Honduras successfully introduced the Rotavirus vaccine.
	2010
April 2010	Guyana Guyana becomes the fourth GAVI-eligible country to introduce a vaccine against rotavirus, the primary cause of diarrhoea which is the second biggest killer of under-fives in developing countries.
	2011
July 2011	Sudan The first children in a GAVI-eligible country in Africa to be vaccinated against rotavirus was in Khartoum, Sudan. By 2015, GAVI plans to support the introduction of this life-saving vaccine in some 40 countries, most of them in Africa, which have extremely high rates of death from rotavirus infections.
	2012
April 2012	Ghana On 26 April 2012, Ghana became the first African country to introduce pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines at the same time, simultaneously tackling the leading causes of the world’s two biggest childhood killers – pneumonia and diarrhoea.
May 2012	Rwanda With the introduction of rotavirus vaccines in Rwanda, children will be protected against the leading cause of severe diarrhoea. At the date of introduction, rotavirus was responsible for the lives of nearly 3,500 Rwandan children every year, accounting for 8.8 % of all under five deaths.
July 2012	Moldova Moldova introduced rotavirus vaccines in its routine immunisation in July 2012. The vaccination coverage is over 90%.
August 2012	Yemen 1 August - despite a severe humanitarian crisis, the government of Yemen, supported by GAVI and its partners introduces rotavirus vaccine into its national immunisation programme. One million children born each year will be targeted.
October 2012	Malawi In October 2012, Malawi became the 10th GAVI-eligible country to introduce rotavirus vaccines in its national immunization program. Rotavirus takes the lives of more than 2,500 Malawian children under five each year— accounting for 4.5 percent of all under-five deaths in Malawi. Studies in Malawi show that rotavirus vaccines are safe and effective against severe rotavirus disease and are a cost-effective intervention.
November 2012	Armenia Accelerating access to rotavirus vaccines will not only save the lives of Armenian children but also lessen the tremendous economic and health burden of rotavirus disease, thereby contributing to poverty reduction and a growing economy.
December 2012	Tanzania In the margins of GAVI’s 2012 Partners Forum in Tanzania, the country successfully introduced simultaneously rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines to protect its children.