[6] Safety and efficacy trials in Africa and Asia found that the vaccines dramatically reduced severe disease among infants in developing countries, where a majority of rotavirus-related deaths occur.

[10][11] A 2021 Cochrane systematic review concluded that Rotavac, Rotateq, and Rotarix vaccines are safe and are effective at preventing diarrhea that is related to a rotavirus infection.

[17][11] Additionally, the vaccines may also prevent illness in non-vaccinated children by limiting exposure through the number of circulating infections.

Rotarix is indicated for the prevention of rotavirus gastroenteritis caused by G1 and non-G1 types (G3, G4, and G9) when administered as a 2-dose series in infants and children.

[22][23] Rotateq is a live, oral pentavalent vaccine that contains five rotavirus strains produced by reassortment.

[medical citation needed] The rotavirus A parent strains of the reassortants were isolated from human and bovine hosts.

[medical citation needed] The fifth reassortant virus expresses the attachment protein VP4, (type P1A), from the human rotavirus parent strain and the outer capsid protein VP7 (serotype G6) from the bovine rotavirus parent strain.

[medical citation needed] In February 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Rotateq for use in the United States.

It is a live attenuated, monovalent vaccine containing a G9P[11] human strain isolated from an Indian child.

However post-licensure studies conducted in the United States by Trudy Murphy and her colleagues at the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Kramarz et al., found that Infants who received the vaccine were 30 times more likely to develop a severe form of bowel obstruction, called intussusception, during 3 to 7 days after the first dose than unvaccinated infants.

There then followed eight years of delay until rival manufacturers were able to introduce new vaccines that were shown to be more safe and effective in children: Rotarix by GlaxoSmithKline[19] and Rotateq by Merck.

[8] The World Health Organization recommends that rotavirus vaccine be included in all national immunization schedules because the risk of intussusception following rotavirus vaccination remains very low compared with the benefits of preventing the impact of severe and deadly diarrhoea.