The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched India’s first indigenous rotavirus vaccine named Rotavac to combat infant mortality due to diarrhoea. 
•    It was launched by Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda as part country’s ambitious Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP). 
•    The vaccine is being introduced initially in four States Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh (first to launch it) and Odisha. It would be expanded to the entire country in a phased manner. 
•    The Rotavirus vaccine has been developed indigenously under a public-private partnership between the Union Ministry of Science Technology, Union Health Ministry, institutions of the US Government and NGOs in India supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 
•    The vaccine is administered orally to infants in three dose course at ages of six, ten and fourteen weeks as part of Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP). 
•    The Rotavirus is a genus of double-stranded RNA virus in the family Reoviridae. 
•    It most common causative agent of moderate-to-severe diarrhoea (MSD) among infants below 11 months age group and death among children less than five years of age. 
•    The virus spreads from person to person due to bacterial and parasiting agents that are primarily transmitted through contaminated food or water. 
•    It causes gastroenteritis after it damages the cells that line the small intestine and causes gastroenteritis. 
•    In some cases, in causes malnutrition, delayed physical and mental development among children