Rotavirus Vaccine on Hold As CDC Investigates Risk: Reports of Intussuception Prompt Concern.(also includes information on conjugate pneumococcal vaccine for children)

Reports of intussuception prompt concern.

With use of the rotavirus vaccine now on hold, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials are trying to get answers by October about the possible relationship between the vaccine and intussusception.

Last month the CDC called a halt to the vaccine's use until at least November to allow more data to be gathered from an ongoing case-control study.

Concern about the vaccine had been raised at the June meeting of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. At that time, 12 cases of intussusception following receipt of the rotavirus vaccine had been reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Yet other data seemed to suggest that the rate did not exceed baseline. A case control study was begun to clarify the situation, but there were no immediate plans to pull the vaccine (FAMILY PRACTICE NEWS, July 15, 1999, p. 29).

In the weeks following the meeting, further analysis of the old data plus some new findings led the CDC--as well as the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics--to adopt a more cautious stance, said Dr. Melinda Wharton, chief of the CDC's Childhood Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Branch, Atlanta.

During preparation of an article for the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report (MMWR 48[27]:577-81, 1999), CDC officials reanalyzed data from the prelicensure studies that had been presented at the June ACIP meeting.

The proportion of vaccinated children developing intussusception in these studies (5 of 10,054 vaccine recipients, 0.05%)…