On the other hand, adolescents 12 to 18 years old who received two doses of the vaccine had about a 40% lower risk of hospitalization due to Omicron infection. But the risk of more severe disease and intubation or death in this age group was almost 80% lower.
Researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Boston Children's Hospital, who published the study in the US medical journal New England Journal of Medicine, analysed data on 267 children 5-11 years old and 918 adolescents 12-18 years old with Covid-19 who were hospitalised in 31 paediatric hospitals in 23 states between July 2021 and February 2022.
88% of pediatric patients hospitalized with Covid-19 were unvaccinated and 25% were severely ill. In patients aged 5-11 years, 92% were unvaccinated and 16% were severely ill. At ages 12-18 years, 87% were unvaccinated and 27% were severely ill (of these, 93% were unvaccinated and two died).
Among children 5-11 years of age, two doses of Pfizer/BioNTech showed 68% efficacy in preventing hospitalization during Omicron's release into the community. Among adolescents 12-18 years of age, vaccination showed a greater 92% efficacy against the risk of adolescent hospitalization due to Delta variant infection, compared with a 40% efficacy against Omicron. However, in terms of preventing severe and life-threatening disease, vaccination of adolescents was 96% effective in the Delta prevalence period and 79% effective in the subsequent Omicron period.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine became available in 16-18 year olds in December 2020, in 12-15 year olds in May 2021 and in 5-11 year olds in October 2021. But many parents still appear reluctant to vaccinate their children, so by mid-March 2022 only 57% of adolescents 12-17 and 27% of children 5-11 had had two doses, according to the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The reason for a child to get a Covid-19 vaccine is to prevent serious complications of coronavirus infection, including hospitalization. The new study shows that vaccination reduces this risk significantly in children 5-11 years old. And although vaccination provided lower protection in adolescents against hospitalization due to Omicron than Delta, it still prevented severe disease from both variants, said lead researcher Dr. Adrian Randolph of Harvard University School of Medicine and Boston Children's Hospital.
We hope our findings will help parents make the decision to vaccinate their children and adolescents against Covid-19. The benefits clearly outweigh the risks, as serious childhood infections can have long-term consequences, he added.
[/P]Source: APE-MPA
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