If you plan on having your child in daycare or at an in-home provider where he will be coming in contact with other children, then you may wish to investigate having him vaccinated. We knew our child would be going to daycare, so we opted to have him take it. It is administered orally and our child hasn't minded it one bit.
Some information about Rotavirus and the vaccine:
-infection with Rotavirus causes severe diarrhea, which can be accompanied by vomiting and fever (children could end up in the hospital due to dehydration and other potentially dangerous conditions)
-It is given in 3 doses, typically at months 2, 4 & 6
-Nearly all children in the US are infected with the virus before their 5th birthday. This doesn't mean that they will always show symptoms or become sick (how many times are you around someone who has a cold, but you don't get the cold).
You should also know that in the late 90s, a different version of the vaccine was used. It was associated with intussusception (bowel obstruction) and was pulled off the market. The new version has been tested with over 70,000 patients and no association was found.
In the US, Rotavirus is responsible for more than 400,000 doctor visits, 200,000 emergency room visits, and 55,000-70,000 hospitalizations each year.
Our pediatrician did not encourage or discourage us from making our decision; she just educated us on the virus and it's communicability.
You can obtain more information from the CDC's website: www.cdc.gov/nip (the information I posted in this reply was taken from the flyer given to me by my pediatrician: rotavirus 4/12/06)