Researchers at the University of Virginia have received a $14.7 million grant to look at why common vaccines aren’t as successful for children living in under-developed countries.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded the grant to members of Performance of Rotavirus and Oral polio Vaccines In Developing countries (PROVIDE), according to a news release from UVa.
The PROVIDE study is led by UVa’s Dr. William A. Petri Jr. and Dr. Beth Kirkpatrick from the University of Vermont.
The group will look at why oral vaccines for paralytic polio and rotavirus do not work as well on children in less developed countries.
“The average child who contracts paralytic polio in India has received more than the four recommended doses of the oral polio vaccine,” Petri said in the release. “Similarly, the new and live-saving vaccine against rotavirus is only half as effective in Bangladesh as it is in the United States.”
Researchers will study 1,000 children from India to see why common vaccines aren’t working.
Results from the study could lead to targeted interventions to prevent oral vaccination failure and eliminate unnecessary side effects, the release said.
Last year, the Gates foundation committed $10 billion over a 10-year period to fund research that will develop and deliver vaccines for the world’s poorest countries, according to the foundation’s website.
“We must make this the decade of vaccines,” Bill Gates said at the time of the announcement. “Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing counties. Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before.”
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