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Background More than 10 years after the authorisation of two rotavirus vaccines of demonstrated efficacy and with a strongly positive benefit-risk profile, uptake in Europe remains low. Only 13 countries in Europe provide a fully-funded rotavirus universal mass vaccination (UMV) programme, three provide a partially-funded programme, and one provides full funding for a reduced programme targeting at-risk infants. Around 40% of countries in Europe currently have no existing recommendations for rotavirus vaccine use in children from the national government. Methods We provide an overview of the status of rotavirus vaccine recommendations across Europe and the factors impeding uptake. We consider the evidence for the benefits and risks of vaccination, and argue that cost-effectiveness and cost-saving benefits justify greater access to rotavirus vaccines for infants living in Europe. Results Lack of awareness of the direct and indirect burden caused by rotavirus disease, potential cost-saving from rotavirus vaccination including considerable benefits to children, families and society, and government/insurer cost constraints all contribute to complacency at different levels of health policy in individual countries. Conclusions More than 10 years after their introduction, available data confirm the benefits and acceptable safety profile of infant rotavirus UMV programmes. Europe serves to gain considerably from rotavirus UMV in terms of reductions in healthcare resource utilization and related costs in both vaccinated subjects and their unvaccinated siblings through herd protection.

The present study was designed to isolate the major dimensions associated with measures of fluency in oral and written language and to determine the relation of these dimensions to various personality and ability measures. Four indices of fluency from written language and seven indices of fluency from speech were obtained from a total of 95 Ss. In addition, ten personality and eight verbal ability variables were assessed. The resulting correlation matrix yielded seven factors, five of which shared variance in common with the language variables. Written language diversity was related to associational fluency (Factor I), while speech diversity was related to vocabulary knowledge (Factor II). Word production in both oral and written language was associated with vocabulary knowledge (Factor III), social approval was related to the use of long pauses (Factor IV), and associational fluency was negatively related to the occurrence of speech intrusions (Factor V). Factors VI and VII appeared to describe two dimensions of personality, neither of which was related to language measures.