Rotavirus Vaccine Nears Approval

A little over seven years ago we had our oldest son vaccinated against rotavirus. In case you’re not familiar with rotavirus, it’s a pretty nasty stomach bug that hospitalizes thousands of kids in the United States and kills millions in developing countries worldwide. Six years ago, this vaccine (RotaShield from Wyeth) was pulled from the market after 20 kids (out of the million or more that were vaccinated) developed a deadly side effect involving a twisted bowel (ouch!).

Needless to say, the rest of our kids were never vaccinated. But now there’s word that a new rotavirus vaccine from Merck, known as RotaTeq, has moved one step closer to regulatory approval for use in the United States. RotaTeq, which has been in development since 1993 is administered in three doses (at two months, four months, and six months) and is meant to be effective for two years. After that, kids are much less susceptible to dehydration and other effects of the illness, and therefore less likely to require hospitalization. A third vaccine, GlaxoSmithKlines’s Rotarix, has been licensed in Mexico, but has not come up for approval in the United States.

[Source: CNN.com]