FP Report -- September 1999
Risks may outweigh benefits
Postpone use of rotavirus vaccine
Don't administer the rotavirus vaccine until more information is available. That's the latest recommendation from the AAFP, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and American Academy of Pediatrics.
The recommendation responds to several studies that suggest a possible increased rate of intussusception among infants who have received rotavirus immunization compared with unvaccinated infants. The AAFP encourages the use of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System -- (800) 822-7967 -- to report this or any other adverse event after vaccination.
"Rotavirus usually occurs in the winter. At this time, there is more risk in giving the vaccine than in holding off until we have more information," said AAFP President Lanny Copeland, M.D., of Albany, Ga. He encouraged FPs to educate parents of rotavirus-immunized infants about intussusception symptoms -- persistent vomiting, bloody stools, black stools, abdominal distention and/or severe colic pain.
AAFP's rotavirus policy never mandated the vaccine but said the decision to use the vaccine should be made by the parent or guardian in consultation with a physician or other health care provider.
For a packet of information on the latest recommendations regarding rotavirus, polio, influenza and Lyme disease vaccines, as well as the presence of mercury in vaccines, use AAFP Express and request item #7008 (see Express). Get informed so you can educate your patients and ensure that their babies have the necessary childhood immunizations.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1999 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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