WHAT ROTARIX IS AND WHAT IT IS USED FOR?
Rotarix is a viral vaccine, containing live, attenuated human rotavirus, that helps to protect your child, from the age of 6 weeks, against gastro-enteritis (diarrhoea and vomiting) caused by rotavirus infection.
HOW ROTARIX WORKS?
Rotavirus infection is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea in infants and young children.
Rotavirus is easily spread from hand-to-mouth due to contact with stools from an infected person. Most children with rotavirus diarrhoea recover on their own. However, some children become very ill with severe vomiting, diarrhoea and life-threatening loss of fluids that requires hospitalisation. When a person is given the vaccine, the immune system (the body’s natural defences) will make antibodies against the most commonly occurring types of rotavirus. These antibodies protect against disease caused by these types of rotavirus.
As with all vaccines, Rotarix may not completely protect all people who are vaccinated against the rotavirus infections it is intended to prevent.