An expert panel to investigate the safety of the rotavirus vaccine Rotarix is being convened by Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

A virus common to pigs in batches of the drug has been identified by the vaccine's manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline.

Rotavirus gastroenteritis, which can cause severe diarrhea, vomiting, and fever in children, is prevented by the vaccine.

Doctors have been urged by the United States Food and Drug Administration to restrain from using the vaccine for the next six weeks until investigations are over.

The TGA however denied from issuing a similar advice because the vaccine is not a threat to public health.

Dr Carrie Brown, who is a pediatrician at Arkansas Children's Hospital said, “Parents really have no reason to worry if their child was vaccinated with Rotarix; doctors will simply finish the three-fold vaccination with Rota Teq. No correlation with any of the other things the poor pigs are being blamed for in the last year, year and a half; not related to the H1N1 virus, not thought to give fever or do anything else harmful to humans."