Is the COVID-19 vaccine effective for children aged 5 to 11 years?

So how effective is it? COVID-19 vaccination Is it for kids 5-11 years old?

There are new data suggesting that children vaccinated in this age group have less protection against infection.But that’s not surprising, as vaccination series without booster shots are commonplace, some experts say. Low effect In protecting against infection from the Omicron variant of coronavirus than in previous strains, and children in this age group are not eligible for boosters.

Promising new data

The good news is recent data. study From unpeer-reviewed New York State Health Department, and report Published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — COVID-19 vaccination of children emphasizes the prevention of serious illness and hospitalization.

“The main finding is that the vaccine is very defensive against Omicron’s hospitalization for children aged 5-11 years, and their amazing safety is for them to keep their children and their families. That’s why it should be widely adopted by parents [and] The contacts are protected from severe illness, “Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, wrote in an email. “We knew that the vaccine wasn’t working well against Omicron infections, but both reports support that finding.”

Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, Head of Infectious Diseases, Stanford University School of Medicine, said that much more important in determining the usefulness of the vaccine is not to avoid the runny nose caused by COVID-19, but to severe illness and hospitalization. Said that it is effective against.

“It’s good to stop all runny noses, but it’s not globally important so far. All we have to stop is people are hospitalized, put on a ventilator, or die. Maldonado, who has helped conduct clinical trials of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, said: Stanford children..

hospitalization

Although children are less likely to be hospitalized than adults, COVID-19 still causes sufficiently high levels of death, and pandemics are considered one of the leading causes of death in children. More than 1,500 children up to the age of 17 died of COVID-19 Whole countryIncluding 61 in California.

Los Angeles County reported on Thursday that a teenager died of the 10th childhood COVID-19. “This is a tragic loss, as well as all deaths associated with COVID-19, and will have serious implications for this child’s family and friends,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health. increase.

Orange County reported 5 pediatric COVID-19 Dead (number)Since December, 3 people have occurred. Among them are two previously healthy children. One was under the age of five who was not eligible for vaccination, and a 17-year-old girl refused vaccination and died of COVID. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome.

“I’ve seen children on ventilators. I’ve seen children who are very afflicted with this virus,” Maldonado said.

Most of the children in the hospital have not been vaccinated, Southern California health officials said. Deaths from COVID-19 in children are particularly tragic, as the age group is not believed to exhibit high mortality for any reason.

“Yes, so far, three-quarters of all deaths have occurred in people over the age of 65, but children are not expected to die,” Maldonado said. “Proportionately, COVID deaths are among the top 10 causes of death for children because they are not expected to die. By 2022, they will not be in the world or the United States.”

Low vaccination rate

Health experts are worried about low vaccine intake in children aged 5 to 11 years.Only a little over a quarter of American children Completely vaccinated, 58% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 years.of CaliforniaLess than one-third of children are fully vaccinated, compared to 65% of adolescents.

In LA County, areas where vaccination rates are below the county average of 29% for the age group of 5-11 years are low, such as northeastern San Fernando Valley, Antelope Valley, southern LA, and southeastern LA County. Located in the income area. East side. Areas with higher than average immunization rates include wealthy areas such as Malibu, Hollywood Hills, the southern San Fernando Valley, the West Side, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

CDC report The data show that the efficacy of the vaccine for hospitalization when Delta or Omicron predominates was found to be 74% in children aged 5-11 years. Of the 23 fully vaccinated children of this age group for which records are available, 2 were hospitalized and of the 262 unvaccinated children, 59 were hospitalized.

Vaccine efficacy

Vaccine efficacy for hospitalization was approximately 5 months after the completion of the first vaccination series, initially 92% at ages 12-15 and 94% at ages 16 and 17. After that, it dropped to 73% between the ages of 12 and 15 and 88% between the ages of 16 and 17, but that’s still a significant number.

New York dataAnalyzing information from December 13th to January 30th, vaccine efficacy against all types of infections aged 5-11 years decreased from 68% to only 12%, and vaccine efficacy aged 12-17 years. It states that it has dropped from 66% to 51%. .. Still, “our data support vaccine protection against serious illness in children aged 5 to 11 years,” the author of a New York study wrote.

“Overall, both studies show that vaccines work — they do not prevent infections incredibly well, but we did not expect them to prevent all infections. Our goal was to prevent hospitalization and death, and they do that, “Maldonado said. “Studies have shown that vaccines are safe, and we know that vaccines have prevented children from being hospitalized during large-scale surges.”

Maldonado said she and other vaccine experts expected the COVID-19 vaccine to reduce immunity, so it is necessary to consider when and under what circumstances the booster will take place. ..

“There is a reason why we catch colds many times. There is a reason why we get the flu many times. Respiratory viruses are notorious for their short-lived immunity,” Maldonado said. Says.

New data show that, at least for adults and older children, a few months after the primary vaccination series, “a booster is needed during active and ongoing infections.”

“Now, if Omicron has dropped out and a lot of virus isn’t circulating, do we need a booster? We might be able to wait a bit for another booster,” Maldonado said. “But at some point I think we might need another booster. I don’t know when.”

Understanding a child’s ideal vaccination schedule is more complicated than an adult, as children’s bodies can behave in dramatically different ways.

Scientists suggest that children aged 5 to 11 years need booster immunity, and may then adjust their primary vaccination series, such as changing dosing intervals and doses.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.