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Kamilah Qasimi
TopNews Arab Emirates
03/25/2010
On Wednesday, Dr Amin Al-Amiri, CEO for Medical Practice and Licensing at the Ministry announced the UAE Ministry of Health has taken the decision to suspend utilization of GlaxoSmithKline’s Rotarix vaccine for some time. The vaccine was found to be impure with extraneous viral DNA bits from the porcine circovirus 1 (or PVC1).
A circular by the Ministry has asked to instantly ban the importing, distributing and selling any Rotarix. The manufacturer was also ordered to entirely pull the drug from the UAE markets and hospitals.
Al-Amiri explained, “The vaccine which is given to infants to inoculate them against the rotavirus is very rarely used and there is no evidence at this time that it poses a safety risk.”
He explained that it as after warnings by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that advised pediatricians and health care practitioners to stop using the vaccine until the agency further examines the situation, that the decision to suspend Rotarix was taken.
FDA was earlier made aware of the occurrence of viral genetic material in Rotarix by the manufacturer.
Rotarix is an oral vaccine given to infants’ below12 months of age to prevent rotavirus, which can cause vomiting, diarrhea and fever.