Impact and effectiveness of monovalent rotavirus vaccine in Tajik children

•Tajikistan introduced rotavirus vaccine in 2015.•Pediatric rotavirus hospitalizations decreased significantly during 2016 – 2019, versus 2013 – 2014.•Estimated vaccine effectiveness was 55% (95% CI: 21 – 73%) among children 5 – 59 months old.•Rotavirus vaccine is impactful and effective in Tajik children. In 2015, Tajikistan became the second country in Central Asia to introduce rotavirus vaccine into its national immunization program. Before vaccine introduction, rotavirus was estimated to cause > 40% of pediatric diarrhea hospitalizations in Tajikistan. We aimed to assess the impact of rotavirus vaccine introduction on rotavirus disease burden and estimate rotavirus vaccine effectiveness (VE). Using surveillance data from 2013 through 2019, we examined trends in monthly hospital admissions among children