To the Editor.
Dr Margaret Rennels' defense of the current vaccine licensure procedure (“The Rotavirus Vaccine Story: A Clinical Investigator's View,” Pediatrics. 2000;106:123–125) is very compelling and well-reasoned in regard to the association of intussusception with administration of the rotavirus vaccine. What Dr Rennels does not discuss, however, are the other significant problems that were associated with this vaccine that led many physicians to recommend to parents that the vaccine not be given, well before the association with intussusception became known. These problems included the high incidence of fever >102°F after vaccination and the short duration of immunity after vaccination. These problems were well-known before the vaccine was licensed, yet the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) made very strong statements in favor of the vaccine with the clear implication that physicians who did not administer the vaccine would be negligent in their care of infants. There was a great deal...
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