Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Minimally Protective For Children Against Omicron

A new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Abt Associates announced today that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 (Comirnaty) vaccine is about 31% effective against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant for children ages 5-11.

And this study found the mRNA vaccine reduced the risk of infection by 59% for older children (12-15).

The study looked at 1,364 children in Arizona, Florida, Texas, and Utah who submitted weekly nasal swabs and surveys from July 2021 through February 2022, regardless of whether they had COVID-19 symptoms.

The Pediatric Research Observing Trends and Exposures in COVID-19 Timelines (PROTECT) study, which used real-world data, found that vaccinated children spent less time sick in bed than unvaccinated children with an Omicron virus infection.

Overall, medical care-seeking was reported for 16.4% of unvaccinated participants with Omicron infections and 15.5% of vaccinated participants, which was not significantly different.

Lauren Olsho, the PROTECT study's principal investigator, stated in a press release issued on March 11, 2022, "Other pediatric vaccine effectiveness studies relied on lab testing data or health records and generally captured only cases where a child had symptoms and received health care."

"With the increased use of home rapid testing, studies like ours are needed to provide more comprehensive information on rates of infection and vaccine effectiveness."

The CDC noted that the PROTECT study is among the most extensive studies with routine weekly COVID-19 testing, regardless of COVID-19-like symptoms.

The CDC also said that the study might provide a greater understanding of factors affecting infection risks, such as socio-demographic characteristics, health information, frequency of close social contact, mask use, location, and local virus circulation.

This insight provided more accurate vaccine effectiveness estimates for preventing symptomatic or asymptomatic COVID-19 infection following a two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination series.

Researchers cautioned that the vaccinated children wore masks more often at school than the unvaccinated children, which could have affected the results.

In addition, despite the sample size and diverse locations, it's not clear if the results are generalizable for all 50 states, stated the press release.

An Original Article funded by the U.K. Health Security Agency and published by the peer-review NEJM on March 2, 2022, concluded by stating, 'Primary immunization with two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine provided limited protection against symptomatic disease caused by the omicron variant.'

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices presented updates to Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID19 Vaccines on February 4, 2022, led by Elisha Hall, Ph.D., which included clarification and updates on guidance for people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised.

The findings in this report are subject to at least five limitations. No industry conflicts of interest were disclosed. Corresponding author: Ashley L. Fowlkes, [email protected].

Note: This news post edited the press release for clarity, integrated other data, and was produced for mobile users.