Through a first-of-its-kind partnership program launched in 2006, Merck introduced ROTATEQ^® in Nicaragua.

The ROTATEQ^® Nicaragua program marked the first time there was access to a vaccine in the public sector of a developing country in the same year it was first licensed in a developed country. This program completed in 2009 and achieved an estimated 94 percent vaccine coverage (percent receiving third dose of ROTATEQ) among Nicaraguan infants.

In 2009, Merck also completed clinical trials of the PATH Rotavirus Vaccine Program to study the safety and efficacy of ROTATEQ in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Ghana, Kenya and Mali. Trials at all sites in Africa and Asia involved more than 7,500 infants and were published in the August 2010 edition of The Lancet.

In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) moved to recommend rotavirus vaccination as one of the core list of childhood immunizations. In late 2006, GAVI announced funding to make rotavirus vaccines available in the poorest countries of Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe; some countries in Latin America have begun to utilize GAVI funding for implementing rotavirus vaccination programs. In 2009, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts, the principal advisory group to the WHO for vaccines and immunization, recognized the importance of rotavirus vaccination and recommended the inclusion of rotavirus vaccination in all national immunization programs. Importantly, this includes countries in Asia and Africa, where these vaccines are needed most.

To increase the transparency of the company's product registration status, we will disclose every six months the list of countries where ROTATEQ^® is licensed.