Covid vaccines: the effectiveness on children is much more limited
According to new data released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were found to be less effective in reducing the risk posed by the Omicron variant in younger children than in older age groups.
In general, the effectiveness of the vaccine against children appears to be much reduced compared to adults. The CDC also released a new study on Friday in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report estimating that the two Pfizer vaccine injections were only 31% effective against Omicron variant infections in children between the ages of 5 and 11. An objectively very low value, for which vaccination would usually not be recommended.
The vaccine efficacy among adolescents 12 to 15 years of age against Omicron was virtually double, at 59%, although the study authors cautioned that the "large and overlapping" statistical uncertainty around the two figures suggested that " may not be significantly different ". That is, in the end it may not be effective even in adolescents …
The researchers routinely tested enrolled children in four states – Arizona, Florida, Texas and Utah – starting in July 2021. During the Delta variant dominance period, the study found that the vaccine's effectiveness among adolescents was of the highest level. 87% against infection. But with Omicron it appears much less useful.
Vaccinated children in the study population who contracted COVID spent an average of half a day less sick in bed than unvaccinated children who got sick, which is a truly laughable difference.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they expect to have data from their studies early next month that could allow regulators to greenlight a third dose for children.
In a statement, the CDC said the agency continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination as "a safe and vital tool for protecting children and adolescents regardless of their health status."
If the effectiveness of vaccines on minors is much lower than that of adults, and if in the end, on average, it only serves to reduce the stay in bed by half a day, the legitimate question arises, also considering the adverse effects, whether it is not better to invest in the treatment of very few cases than mass vaccination, also from an ethical point of view. Especially since there are now valid therapies recognized against covid, capable of significantly reducing the number of hospitalizations.
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The article Covid vaccines: effectiveness on children is much more limited comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/vaccini-covid-lefficacia-sui-bambini-e-molto-piu-limitata/ on Sun, 20 Mar 2022 10:32:39 +0000.