By TLB Staff Writer: Christina England
According to recent reports, India is planning to reevaluate the new rotavirus vaccine being used in vaccine trials across the country. The decision was made after a number of children suffered severe complications after receiving the vaccine, which was released earlier this month.
The Hindu reported that the vaccine, which was given to vulnerable children in India to prevent them from suffering severe diarrhoea, has been associated with intussusceptions, a condition that can cause them to suffer from intestinal blockages.
According to their report, an advocate of safe vaccines, Dr. Jacob Puliyel, a paediatrician at St. Stephen’s Hospital, Delhi, told reporters:
“The vaccine has shown associated risk of intussusceptions, a condition that could cause bowel obstruction and may need surgical treatment.”
The exact number of infants injured, however, remains a mystery, as the data has been withheld, despite requests from an international scientific journal
Dr. Jacob Puliyel stated that:
“Peer reviewed journal Vaccine, published a letter written by me and a colleague, asking for disaggregated data on the number of intussusceptions in Vellore in the randomized control trial during the 2 year study period. The protestation of the authors that the vaccine is safe has little meaning if they do not provide the data. However, the data is not available in the papers published and the peer reviewer of Vaccine and the Editor of this international journal felt that it needs to be provided. Serious concerns are raised…
