Rotavirus

I should be getting the house ready for my dear sister's arrival tomorrow afternoon, but I got a little sidetracked. So I thought I'd write a little bit about the "research" I've been doing. Hey! A housewife has nothing but time right? For her children? Always!

I went to the lovely department of heath and human services and printed off a nice chart of when my little one should receive all of her vaccinations. There are quite a few so it's nice that they make handy little charts for you. SO thoughtful.

I also found this nifty site (http://www.vaccinationnews.com/) that has a list of vaccinations, the ingredients in the vaccination, and who makes the vaccination so you can go to the manufacturer's site.

I decided to check out the Rotavirus and it so happens that Merck & Co. make the vaccine for Rotavirus and they've named it "Rota Teq." Isn't that a cute name? Anyway, at the manufacturer's site you can find a brochure they really like you to read through to make sure your child is able to receive the vaccine and they also give you information about the vaccine. It's only two and a half pages so I'm sure most of us read through it when our docs hands us the brochure. Mom's are protective, loving, and want nothing more than to be informed.

At the end of the brochure they have a list of ingredients. Common ingredients really. I mean who DOESN'T know what sodium phosphate monobasic monohydrate, sodium hydroxide, polysorbate 80, and fetal bovine serum are? Okay, truth: I had no clue. So I had to pull up the amazing http://www.google.com/ and do a little research.

Google led me to Wikipedia and here is what good ole' Wikepedia enlightened me with (does anyone know about the accuracy of this site?):

Sodium phosphate monobasic monohydrate --- GMO. CAUTION: May be harmful if swallowed or inhaled. (Let me inform you if you don't know already that Rota Teq is an ORAL vaccination. Babies just have to swallow and it doesn't involve any poking!)

Sodium hydroxide --- Informative Wikipedia says that sodium hydroxide is another name for lye. Click on the link for lye and you'll find this statement "May be harmful or fatal if swallowed." Uh oh! Oh, yeah it also mentions to "avoid all contact with organic tissue (including human skin, eyes, and MOUTH). Do you have any idea just how annoying I am to the doc yet? I just want to know! Oh, yes, it also mentions this odd fact: "avoid all contact with aluminum." I don't see this being a problem except for the fact that my nifty vaccination chart tells me that this vaccine needs to be given at the same time as the DTaP at ages 2 months, 4 months and 6 months and it contains aluminum. I sure would like to know why the two shouldn't be combined! DOC?

Polysorbate 80 --- a stabilizer and lubricant. Hmmm. That doesn't sound so bad. Anyone else know about this? I sure would like to know if there is anything more to this ingredient.

Fetal bovine serum --- serum taken from the fetuses of cattle. Yum! Just what I want in my kid's mouth. What in the world????

I know what you are thinking (If you've even read this far in my post:), "No wonder it takes forever to get into see the doc. This girl takes ALL of his time." Yes, you are right! I take a lot of his time. I should pay double.

I am going to ask for my vaccination brochures way ahead of the time necessary for the vaccination. I don't have a laptop and Google while at the doc's office.