Contraindications to receiving rotavirus vaccines included a history of severe allergic reaction to a previous vaccine dose or to any component of the vaccine. ROTARIX was not recommended for infants with a severe latex allergy due to the presence of latex in the vaccine’s oral applicator. Infants with a latex allergy could receive RotaTeq as the applicator for this vaccine did not contain latex.
Precautions to vaccination included infants who were immunocompromised or potentially immunocompromised, infants who were acutely ill with moderate to severe gastroenteritis or those moderate to severely ill, infants with pre-existing chronic gastrointestinal disorders and those with a history of intussusception.
Infants with bladder exstrophy or spina bifida, a population known to be at a higher risk for latex allergies, were recommended to receive RotaTeq in lieu of ROTARIX; however, if RotaTeq was not available, ACIP stated that vaccination with ROTARIX was still preferential over no vaccine.
Limited data on the safety or effectiveness of rotavirus vaccines on premature infants was available when ACIP published its updated guidelines but committee members considered the benefits to rotavirus vaccination to outweigh the risks and recommended routine vaccination for this population. Infants in the NICU, however, were not recommended to receive the vaccine due to the risk of vaccine-strain shedding that could potentially harm an acutely ill infant in the same unit.
ACIP recommended that all rotavirus vaccine doses administered be of the same product but stated that vaccination should not be deferred because the previously administered vaccine type was not known.
