US health officials have reported that ‘Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine gave children 5 and older strong protection against hospitalization and death’. See complete news on viralnewsgossip.com.
Pfizer the two-dose vaccine reduced the risk of Covid-19 hospitalization in children 5 to 11 years by 74% and by 92% or higher in children 12 to 17, according to the study published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pfizer‘s Covid-19 vaccine was highly effective at reducing the risk of severe disease in children 17 years and younger during the Omicron surge but didn’t work as well at preventing infection.
However, the vaccine was 51% effective at reducing the risk of infection among 5- to 11-year-olds, while Omicron was predominant, and between 34% and 45% effective in children 12 to 17 years, depending on the age, for the first five months after the second dose, according to the study.
The vaccine was 90.7% effective at preventing symptomatic disease in the pivotal study that led to authorization. That study was conducted before Omicron emerged.
In a separate study by New York state health officials, the vaccine was found to be 12% effective in younger children at least two weeks after they had gotten a second dose in December or January, compared with 51% in adolescents. The study was posted online Monday and hasn’t been peer reviewed.
“The two papers do confirm that there’s a pretty rapid loss of protection,” said Cody Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at Tufts University who sits on a vaccine advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration. Yet he cautioned that there were so few numbers of kids who became sick in the CDC study that the numbers carry wide
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only one cleared for use in children 5 to 11 years, who became eligible for the shots last fall. The youths get a 10 microgram dose, a third of the dosage given to adolescents and adults.
Vaccine experts said the lower dose is likely a factor in the vaccine’s reduced effectiveness in younger children exposed to Omicron.
To improve the vaccine’s effectiveness against Omicron, health authorities have recommended adults and adolescents get a booster. The authorities also recommend booster doses for use in 5- to 11-year-olds who have weakened immune systems and are at high risk of severe disease.
A Pfizer spokeswoman said the company is studying a third 10 microgram dose in children 5 to 11 years with healthy immune systems.
She also said that early laboratory testing with Delta and other variants of concern, including Omicron, suggest that people vaccinated with three doses may have a higher degree of protection, especially against severe disease and hospitalization.
The CDC study explored the real-world effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine during the Omicron wave in December to January by comparing the number of vaccinated and unvaccinated children who sought medical care.
During this period, the risk of children 5 to 11 becoming hospitalized from Covid-19 was 74%, compared with 92% to 94% in 12-to-17-year-olds, according to the study.
A separate CDC study found that serious side effects were rare among children 12 to 17 years who had gotten a Pfizer-BioNTech booster.
In the New York study, researchers from the New York State Department of Health looked at vaccination data from 852,384 fully vaccinated children 12 to 17 years and 365,502 children 5 to 11 years. The study covered mid-December through January, a period when Omicron surged.
The study found that the vaccine’s effectiveness against infection declined from mid-December to late January. Risk of hospitalization declined as well, dropping to 48% from 100% in the children 5 to 11 years and to 73% from 85% in older children.
There was a big difference in efficacy in late January between 11- and 12-year-olds, with an effectiveness rate of 67% in 12-year-olds but 11% in 11-year-olds, according to the study.
Pfizer and Side Effects
Pfizer has admitted the following is a list of the potential adverse reactions to their experimental nanotechnology injectable serum.
Pfizer releases its list of vaccine side effects.
Wow. Pfizer vaccine data. Pfizer wanted you to wait till 2085 to know that the vaccine you took has 9 PAGES of side effects. Start with page 30. I’ve never seen anything like it. I can’t even get my head around this.
