Influence of oral polio vaccines on performance of the monovalent and pentavalent rotavirus vaccines

In recent years, two live, oral rotavirus vaccines have been successfully tested in developing and industrialized countries, and both vaccines are now recommended by the World Health Organization for all children worldwide. Both immunogenicity and efficacy of these rotavirus vaccines has been lower in developing compared to industrialized settings. We reviewed the data on the effect of trivalent OPV on the immunogenicity and efficacy of two rotavirus vaccines currently recommended by the WHO. While rotavirus vaccines have not affected immune responses to OPV, in general, the immune responses (i.e., antibody levels) to rotavirus vaccination were lower when rotavirus vaccines were co-administered with OPV. Limited data suggests that the interference is greater after the first dose of OPV, presumably because the first dose is associated with greatest intestinal replication of vaccine polio virus strains, and this interference is largely overcome with subsequent rotavirus vaccine doses. Despite the lower immunogenicity, one large efficacy study in middle income Latin American countries showed no decrease in protective efficacy of rotavirus vaccine in infants receiving concurrent OPV. While these data are encouraging and support simultaneous administration of rotavirus vaccines and OPV, additional evidence should be gathered as rotavirus vaccines are used more widely in developing country settings, where OPV is routinely used, rather than inactivated polio vaccine.