Rotavirus Vaccine to be Added to Childhood Vaccination Immunization Schedule - CDC Recommend and FDA Approved RotaTeq

February 22nd 2006

Re-hydration of sufferer

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced earlier this month the licensing of a new vaccine against the Rotavirus. This disease is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths around the world each year.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said the Merck and Company oral vaccine ROTATEQ should be added to the schedule of vaccines given to U.S. infants. The newer vaccine does not cause the same problems as an earlier vaccine withdrawn from the market in 1999.

The vaccine will be administered at 2 months, 4 months and again at 6 months of age. Approval is needed by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), which usually follows the panel's recommendations.

The vaccine will retail for $300. It is hoped this will alleviate the ‘stomach flu’, eliminating the need for 55,000 hospital visits by children in the U.S. According to press release from Medical News, 60 children die each year from the rotavirus.