Important: VAERS reports alone cannot determine if a vaccine caused an adverse event. Reports may contain incomplete, inaccurate, or unverified information. Correlation does not equal causation.
Rotavirus vaccines (RotaTeq and Rotarix) protect infants against severe diarrhea caused by rotavirus — the leading cause of severe gastroenteritis in young children worldwide. Given orally starting at 2 months of age, these vaccines have dramatically reduced rotavirus hospitalizations.
The following symptoms are most frequently reported after rotavirus vaccination:
Intussusception — a type of bowel obstruction where one segment of the intestine telescopes into another — is the most closely monitored adverse event for rotavirus vaccines. The first rotavirus vaccine (RotaShield) was withdrawn in 1999 because it caused intussusception in about 1 in 10,000 infants.
Current vaccines (RotaTeq and Rotarix) have a much smaller risk — estimated at 1-5 additional cases per 100,000 infants vaccinated, primarily within the first week after the first dose. This is why there's a strict age limit: the first dose must be given before 15 weeks of age, and the series must be completed by 8 months.
Both are oral vaccines (drops, not shots), which is why common side effects differ from injectable vaccines.
Common:
Less common:
Rare but serious:
The relatively high number of death reports for rotavirus vaccine reflects that it's given to very young infants (2-8 months) during the peak window for SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Large-scale studies have found no increased risk of death from rotavirus vaccination — the temporal association with SIDS is coincidental.