18 January 2014 (23:04 UTC-07 Tango 17 January 2014)/16 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1435/28 Dey 1392/18 Gui-Chou (12th month) 4711

A seven years study by Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute warns that there is a risk of problems with Merck’s rotavirus vaccine RotaTeq.

Rotavirus causes norovirus like symptoms.  But the Merck vaccine could cause children to end up getting surgery on their intestines, as a result of intussusception (the intestines slide into each other like a telescoping telescope).

Similar results were found in a five years study on GlaxoSmithKline’s Rotarix.  That study was done by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The rotavirus vaccines require several doses, and apparently most of the risk of intussusception happens after the first dose, with little or no risk with the second and third doses.