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The efficacy of the vaccine against infection among these children decreased to 12% in late January from 68% in mid-December
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Two doses of the covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech protected against serious diseases in children aged 5 to 11 years during the recent rise of the omicron variant, but they quickly lost most of their capacity to prevent infections in this age group, according to a study by New York state researchers.
The efficacy of the vaccine against infection among these children decreased to 12% in late January from 68% in mid-December compared to children who were not vaccinated, according to the study.
For the group between 12 and 17 years old, the vaccine’s protection against infection fell to 51% in late January from 66% in mid-December.
“These results highlight the potential need to study alternative doses of vaccines for children and the continued importance of layered protections, including the use of masks, to prevent infection and transmission,” the researchers said.
The vaccine was effective of about 48 percent to keep the youngest age group out of hospital, with 73 percent efficacy against hospitalization among teens last month, according to the data. That was less than 100% and 85% effective against hospitalization for the two age groups in mid-December.
El doctorPaul Offit, pediatric infectious disease expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, questioned whether the data was strong enough to say that the vaccine’s effectiveness had dropped significantly, particularly against serious diseases.
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“It is not surprising that the protection against minor diseases decreases,” Offit said. “We know that omicron it is somewhat immune evasive for protection against minor illnesses. The purpose of the vaccine is to protect against serious diseases, to keep children out of the hospital.”
Offit said the number of hospitalizations it was too low to draw any real conclusions and that there was little information on why the children were hospitalized. He noted that protection against prior infections among the unvaccinated could also skew the numbers.
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