Alexandra Ferguson
(CNN) – Pfizer / BioNTech’s covid-19 vaccine is 93% effective in preventing coronavirus hospitalization among children 12 to 18 years of age, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Department of Diseases (CDC).
The efficacy of the vaccine differs only slightly within that age group, with an efficacy of 91% for children 12 to 15 years old and 94% for those 16 to 18 years old.
The study included 464 patients: 179 hospitalized for COVID-19 and 285 hospitalized for other reasons in 19 pediatric hospitals in 16 states between June and September 2021, a period in which the delta variant was dominant. Most of the patients had at least one underlying condition (72%), attended school in person (68%), and were from southern states, as there was high transmission of Covid-19 in that region during this period.
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For the purposes of the study, patients were considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if they had received their second dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine at least 14 days before onset of illness. Those who were partially vaccinated – with a single dose or less than 14 days from the second dose – were excluded from the analysis.
Among the 179 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the study, 97% were not vaccinated. All critically ill patients were not vaccinated, even about 43% (77 patients) were admitted to an intensive care unit, 29 received life support during hospitalization, and two died.
Since August 2020, more than 65,000 children have been hospitalized for COVID-19 and nearly 700 have died, according to CDC data.
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Data from the Pfizer / BioNTech clinical trial found the vaccine to be 100% effective against hospitalization among children 12-15 years of age, and this real-world analysis also found that vaccination is highly effective in reducing the risk of hospitalization. among those between 12 and 18 years old.
Currently, 46% of children ages 12-15 and 54% of those ages 16-17 are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data, a smaller proportion than any age group of adults.
“(These) results reinforce the importance of vaccination to protect young Americans against severe COVID-19,” according to the study authors. “These data suggest that increasing vaccination coverage among this group could reduce the incidence of severe COVID-19 in the United States. Furthermore, as the number of children attending school in person increases, it is imperative to adopt multifactorial preventive measures to reduce the incidence of severe COVID-19 among adolescents, including vaccination. “
The-CNN-Wire
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