CDC: Pfizer shots protect children
Fewer deaths, stays in hospital for vaccinated
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine gave children 5 and older strong protection against hospitalization and death even during the omicron surge that hit youngsters especially hard, U.S. health officials reported Tuesday.
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention come a day after a study of New York children suggested the vaccine may not be as effective in 5- to 11-year-olds as in older kids – especially at blocking milder infections. That data raised the question of whether kid-sized doses given to those under 12 might be too low.
But the CDC said data from multiple other states suggests the issue isn’t children’s ages or dose size – it’s omicron. Vaccination generally is less effective against the hugely contagious omicron variant than earlier versions of the coronavirus – and vaccinations for 5- to 11year-olds began just weeks before omicron began circulating.
“As a parent of a very young child, I think I would do everything to keep them out of the emergency department in the middle of the night,” said CDC epidemiologist Ruth Link-Gelles. “What we see from the data that we have is that the vaccine continues to provide good protection against more severe outcomes.”
Pediatricians say the back-and-forth results may seem confusing but that parents need to understand the shots are still the best way to prevent serious illness.
“If you’re vaccinated, you may get a mild infection and we’re just going to have to learn to live with that,” said Dr. Paul Offit of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
He said the New York study was too small to draw conclusions and also can’t account for variables such as infections going uncounted in kids tested at home instead of a clinic. He said youngsters admitted to his hospital with severe COVID-19 are the unvaccinated “and it’s hard to watch.”
The CDC reported Tuesday that between April and early January there were nine deaths related to COVID-19 among vaccinated children ages 5 to 17 – compared to 121 deaths among unvaccinated children that age.
Also, the CDC examined pediatric hospitalizations in 10 states from last April to the end of January. The vaccine proved 74% effective against hospitalization in 5- to 11-year-olds. Only two vaccinated children were hospitalized compared to 59 unvaccinated children.
In comparison, the vaccine was 92% to 94% effective against hospitalization in 12- to 15-year-olds and 16- to 17-yearolds. Most of the hospitalizations in the adolescents occurred when the earlier delta variant was dominant, while most of the hospitalizations of those younger than 12 occurred during the omicron wave, which started in early December.
Tuesday’s study also found that during the time when omicron was predominant, the vaccine was 51% effective in preventing emergency room or urgentcare visits by 5- to 11-year-olds. That was fairly similar to the 45% effectiveness for 12- to 15-year-olds who’d gotten their second dose months earlier.
Elsewhere
h Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday but will continue his official duties while isolating.
“I am experiencing flu-like symptoms and will be recovering over the next week,” Morrison said in a statement.
He said would continue working as prime minister, focusing on the government’s responses to the Ukraine war and devastating floods on Australia’s east coast.
He is isolating in his official Sydney residence.
Morrison held a news conference with Defense Minister Peter Dutton earlier Tuesday. Dutton became the first governing party lawmaker to be infected with COVID-19 during a Washington, D.C., visit in March 2020.
● Traffic jams and outdoor crowds are back in the Philippine capital and 38 other cities and provinces Tuesday after officials allowed businesses and public transport, including shopping malls, movie houses and restaurants, to operate at full capacity as COVID-19 cases continued to drop with more vaccinations, officials said.
Social distancing is no longer required in Manila and the other specified areas, restaurants can now remove plastic barriers on tables, and public gatherings – such as birthday parties, weddings, sport events and family reunions – can fully resume. All government employees have been ordered to return to office for work.
“Now everything is open,” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said. “We’re happy seeing the traffic again, it means there’s really economic activity and people are going out.”
● Health authorities in Guatemala say over a million doses of the Russian Sputnik coronavirus vaccine have expired, because nobody wanted to take the shot.
Only about 43% of the country’s 12.6 million inhabitants over age 11 are fully vaccinated, in a country whose total population is 17 million.