A new study published on Monday points to the low effectiveness of the vaccine developed by Pfizer for 5-11 year olds, in particular against the Omicron variant.
- According to the latest data, the United States has more than 953,000 deaths related to Covid-19. Among them, 851 relate to children under 17 years of age.
- In France, since Wednesday December 22, 2021, all children aged 5 to 11 are eligible for this vaccination.
- This includes 2 doses of 10 mg of Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine 3 weeks apart.
Are children aged 5 to 11 with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine really well protected against Covid-19? A new study published Monday on the MedRxiv website and carried out using data provided by the health authorities of the State of New York (United States) makes it doubtful.
This new work could even, according to The Guardian which relays them, questioning the need to vaccinate young children, unlike adolescents and adults. Especially since the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine is currently the only one authorized for this age group in France and the United States to combat SARS-CoV-2.
Protection against the virus that drops to 12%
The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, was carried out by six New York State Public Health scientists during the wave of the Omicron variant. It takes into account cases and hospitalization rates between December 13, 2021 and January 30, 2022 among 852,384 children aged 12 to 17 years and 365,502 children aged 5 to 11 years fully vaccinated.
The results show that during the outbreak of the Omicron variant, vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization increased from 85% to 73% in children aged 12-17 years. Among 5-11 year olds, the loss of efficiency is even greater, dropping from 100% to 48%.
The risks of being positive are also greater with Omicron in 12-17 year olds (66% risk against 51% with the other variants). Among the youngest, the effectiveness of the vaccine against contamination even drops from 68% to 12%.
“The difference between the two age groups is striking”told the New York Times Florian Krammer, immunologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. According to him, this is due to the low dose of vaccine received by those under 11 years old. The latter receive 10 mg of serum while those over 12 receive 30 mg, the same dose as that given to adults. “It’s very interesting because it almost suggests that it’s the dose that makes the difference…the question is how to correct that”emphasizes Professor Krammer.
New York State deputy science director Eli Rosenberg said further research is needed to confirm this decline in vaccine effectiveness against Omicron. Asked by the New York Timeshe believes, however, that these results are “disappointing, but not surprising, given that this is a vaccine developed in response to an earlier variant”.
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