About the ROVI study

Aim of the ROVI study

Since 2024, babies in the Netherlands can get a vaccination against the rotavirus through the National Immunisation Programme. The Centre for Infectious Disease Control, part of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), is researching the introduction of this vaccination.

In the ROVI study, RIVM is researching how vaccination against rotavirus infection affects the number of hospital admissions and visits to the Accident and Emergency Department in the Netherlands. Children that are admitted to hospital or go to the Accident and Emergency Department with gastrointestinal symptoms are checked for rotavirus. Then we look at how many of those children had the vaccination against rotavirus and when. We also want to see if there are factors that can influence the effectiveness of the rotavirus vaccination. Examples include an underlying health condition or pre-term birth.

Who can take part in the ROVI study?

You can take part in this study if your child goes to the Accident and Emergency Department or is admitted to hospital for symptoms of stomach flu. Only children born after 1 January 2024 can take part in the study. It does not matter whether or not your child was vaccinated against rotavirus. We are looking for children from both groups.

How do I take part in the ROVI study?

If you want to take part, please register through this website. When you sign up, we will ask you to tick the box indicating your agreement on the consent form. This means that you give consent for your child’s data to be used for the study.

After registration, we will ask you to complete the first questionnaire. It includes questions about your child’s health and the stomach flu symptoms.

At the hospital, you received a little white box. It contains a container and an instruction letter explaining how to collect a bit of your child’s stool (poop). Please collect a stool sample from your child in the container as soon as possible, and send it to RIVM in the grey envelope. You can put the package in the general letterbox. You do not need to use a postage stamp.

RIVM will test your child’s stool sample to determine what caused the stomach flu symptoms. If you want, the researchers can share the test result with you. You can indicate your preference in the questionnaire. The test results do not affect your child’s treatment in any way.

About two weeks after completing the first questionnaire, you will receive the second questionnaire. This also asks questions about your child’s symptoms and how long the symptoms lasted.

More information

More information about the study, the processing of your personal data and your rights can be found in the information leaflet.