Pediatricians want to make an addition to the panoply of vaccine shots received by Canadian children. They urged that every baby should be vaccinated against a virus which sends thousands of children to hospital every year.

Rotavirus causes severe gastroenteritis which is an inflammation of the stomach and intestines causing diarrhea and vomiting in babies in Canada. The virus is very contagious and can lead to dehydration and shock in extreme cases.

Infants under the age of two years are at a greater risk for severe infection and the Canadian Pediatric Society says that rotavirus gastroenteritis is the reason for more illness than any other common diarrheal illness in kids.

The Ottwa-based group recommends in a new position statement that rotavirus vaccination for all infants. It is also inviting universal funding of the vaccines for which no province currently pays.

“We think [the vaccine] is safe, it's effective, it's going to prevent severe infections and it will, we believe, save the provinces money,” said Dr. Robert Bortolussi, chairman of the Canadian Paediatric Society's infectious disease and immunization committee and a professor of pediatrics at Dalhousie University in Halifax.