UPDATE 2-U.S. panel recommends two rotavirus vaccines

(Writes through with vote on Glaxo vaccine)

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) - U.S. vaccine experts recommended adding a new rotavirus vaccine to routine childhood immunizations on Wednesday, and said the current vaccine may have shifted the 2007-2008 stomach bug season among babies.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L) (GSK.N) said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended its recently approved Rotarix vaccine, giving doctors and parents two choices of oral vaccines to protect against rotavirus.

Earlier, the CDC said Merck and Co's (MRK.N) rotavirus vaccine, recommended in 2006, may have already affected the activity of rotavirus, an often serious and sometimes deadly gastrointestinal infection.

Data from around the United States indicate that diarrhea-causing rotavirus activity was delayed by about three months compared with the start time for the previous 15 years, beginning at the end of February instead of November, the CDC said.

Merck's Rotateq was recommended for routine immunization of U.S. infants at two, four and six months of age. It is given in three oral doses and uses five lab-engineered rotavirus strains and is given in two oral doses.

Rotarix was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April. It uses a live but weakened form of virus and is given in two doses.

ACIP describes the two vaccines as equally safe and effective.