FDA Warns Doctors/Parents Against Using Rotarix Vaccine (confirmed: it contains a pig virus)

FDA warns against using rotavirus vaccine

Rotarix, made by GlaxoSmithKline, is found to contain a pig virus that is not known to cause illness in humans. Merck's RotaTeq is recommended until more information can be gleaned.

March 23, 2010|By Thomas H. Maugh II

  

"The Food and Drug Administration on Monday warned doctors and parents against using the Rotarix rotavirus vaccine until further testing can confirm that it is safe. 

The warning follows an academic research group's discovery -- subsequently confirmed by the FDA and Rotarix manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline -- that the vaccine contains a pig virus called porcine circovirus 1, or PCV1. The virus is not known to cause illness in humans, and no adverse effects have been observed in children vaccinated with Rotarix, but the agency decided to err on the side of caution with the warning until more information can be obtained.

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For the time being, the agency recommends that pediatricians use a competing vaccine, RotaTeq, manufactured by Merck. Preliminary tests have found no traces of PCV1 in this vaccine.

Rotavirus causes severe diarrhea and dehydration and is thought to cause more than 500,000 deaths in infants worldwide each year, primarily in low- and middle-income countries. Before the introduction of RotaTeq in the U.S. in 2006, the disease caused an estimated 50,000 hospitalizations and several dozen deaths each year. Rotarix was introduced in 2008. Most U.S. children who have been vaccinated against rotavirus as part of their normal vaccinations have received RotaTeq, the FDA said. About 1 million have received Rotarix."

Read The Rest: Source: LA Times

To "err on the side of caution" is a good thing. It would be terrible if a mass group of people took this vaccine without knowing whether or not it is harmful.