Did RotaShield (rotavirus) vaccine cause intussusception?
In the United States, some infants developed an uncommon but potentially life threatening form of intestinal obstruction called intussusception soon after RotaShield began to be used in October 1998. At first, it was not clear if the vaccine or some other factor was causing the intussusceptions. The CDC quickly recommended that use of the vaccine be suspended until this question could be answered, and immediately started two emergency investigations to find out if receiving RotaShield vaccine was causing some of the cases of intussusception. The results of the investigations showed that RotaShield vaccine caused intussusception in some healthy infants less than 12 months of age who normally are at low risk for this condition. The risk of intussusception increased 20 to 30 times over the expected risk for children of this age group within 2 weeks following the first dose of RotaShield vaccine. The risk increased 3 to 7 times over the expected risk for this age group within 2 weeks after
