This study examines the role of biomedical informatics in the development of vaccines. The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) defines biomedical informatics as an "interdisciplinary field that studies and pursues the effective uses of biomedical data, information, and knowledge for scientific inquiry, problem solving, and decision making, motivated by efforts to improve human health". Vaccines were created as a means to prevent the spread and development of diseases and conditions. Since Edward Jenner's formulation of the smallpox vaccine in 1796, the engineering of vaccines has changed tremendously. This study focuses particularly on the rotavirus vaccine developed in 2006, and how it has improved the likelihood of preventing the rotavirus in children under the age of five. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that the rotavirus is responsible for approximately 20 to 50% of severe gastroenteritis in small children.
