Rotavirus Vaccine

The vaccine that we will be using is called ROTATEQ.  It's an oral vaccine.   We will start to give the vaccine to kids 6-12 weeks old.  That's it.  If your child is over 12 weeks old, they cannot start the series.  For kids that do get the vaccine, we will be giving it at 2, 4 and 6 months of age.  It can be given at the 2 month visit, or you can call for a nurse visit and have it given.

There was an announcement by the FDA that the rotavirus vaccine that we have been giving might be causing a bowel obstruction problem. 

I will worry for you about this and I will tell you when to worry :) I am not worried.

Rotavirus is an awful stinky diarrhea- causing nightmare that I really dislike trying to fix. I will see that in some (probably lots) of my patients soon-- I may or may not see this bowel obstruction thing. I haven't seen a case in 8 years, so I guess maybe I'm due. What I'm trying to say is that Rotavirus is waaaaaay more common than this potential (and not proven) side effect of this vaccine and I will continue to recommend the vaccine.
 

Info on rotavirus is here. 

Info on the vaccine is here.