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Médecine thérapeutique / Pédiatrie

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Rotavirus vaccination in practice : the most common questions Volume 15, issue 4, Octobre-Novembre-Décembre 2012

Authors
Service de PMI, DFPE, Département de Paris, 94-96 Quai de la Râpée, 75012 Paris, France, Centre Hospitalier de Versailles, 177 rue de Versailles, 78 150 Le Chesnay, France

Rotavirus (RV) vaccines are not recommended by the French immunisation program. However, physicians as well as parents of infants often ask about the risk/benefit assessment of RV vaccination and which of the two available vaccines is better. These vaccines are safe and effective. The highly contagious nature of RV and lack of complete and long-lasting protection during breast feeding has led to the recommendation of routine vaccination to all infants from the age of two months, irrespective of feeding. RV vaccines may be co-administered with any other routine vaccines during the first months of life. Preterm infants may also be vaccinated against RV. In the absence of any data to suggest that the two RV vaccines are interchangeable, the vaccination program should be carried out with the same vaccine. If an infant spits out or regurgitates some of the vaccine, a replacement dose is not necessary. Precautionary measures should be taken to avoid contact with immunocompromised patients due to the shedding of infectious vaccine virus in stools.