How well does RotaTeq work to prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis?
Overall, approximately 72,000 healthy infants were studied worldwide in randomized placebo-controlled studies to look at both the safety of RotaTeq and how well it works. The data showing how well RotaTeq prevents rotavirus gastroenteritis comes from almost 7,000 of these infants from the United States and Finland. In these studies, RotaTeq prevented 74% of all rotavirus gastroenteritis cases and 98% of the severe cases. In addition, RotaTeq reduced the need for hospitalization for gastroenteritis due to rotavirus by 96%. Are there are any possible side effects associated with the use of RotaTeq? During the studies, rates of serious adverse events were similar in infants receiving RotaTeq compared to those infants who did not receive the vaccine. The following were reported more often in infants who received RotaTeq, when compared to those who received placebo; diarrhea (24.1% in vaccine recipients vs 21.3% in those receiving placebo), vomiting (15.2% in vaccine recipients vs 13.6% in
