Rotavirus Vaccination
RotaTeq was made available recently in Malaysia as a vaccine against rotavirus infection in children below 6 years old. There were several cases of rotavirus infection at my workplace this year, and most of the infected children had to be hospitalised.
According to the
RotaTeq website and the
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
However, as far as I know, the childhood immunisation schedule in Malaysia has not included any rotavirus vaccine. [It does not even make varicella/chickenpox vaccination compulsory, and we had more than 15 cases this year!].
Therefore, I have a few questions:
1. Since there is "insufficient data on the safety and efficacy of PRV in infants outside of these age ranges", should parents of the 3- to 6-year-old children at my workplace even ask their family doctors and/or paediatricians about the rotavirus vaccine for the kids?
2. What else can we (as a school community) do in the event that rotavirus vaccination is not an option for 3- to 6-year-olds, besides educating their kids and their parents on the appropriate hygiene practices to prevent rotavirus infections? As far as I know, most of the infections this year occurred outside the school, i.e. the kids ate contaminated food and/or had contact with infected persons or contaminated surfaces.
Many thanks in advance.