COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 is effective and safe, study finds

A COVID-19 vaccine has proven effective in preventing infection and serious illness in children aged 5 to 11, according to a new review published in . JAMA Pediatrics.

serious adverse events (AEs) from vaccination, reduced childhood hospitalizations and multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), but were rare. The AE that occurred resolved within a few days.

In the early stages of the pandemic, children were thought to be less likely to experience severe symptoms of COVID-19. This was later found to be untrue. This review and meta-analysis aim to pool the current evidence on the efficacy and safety of mRNA vaccines for her COVID-19 in this age group.

The researchers first used PubMed and Embase on September 29, 2022 to search the literature on this subject. A manual search for secondary sources was conducted as well. They included studies published in peer-reviewed journals, included children aged 5 to 11 years, compared vaccinated and unvaccinated children, and compared vaccinated children’s reported safety results and investigated mRNA vaccines.

All baseline characteristics, including age, gender, ethnicity, and pre-existing comorbidities, were extracted from the study. The primary outcome was to assess her symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 infection. Secondary endpoints were reported adverse events, including symptomatic COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and disruption of usual activities.

This review included 2 randomized controlled trials and 15 observational studies, of which 3 were case-control studies and 12 were cohort studies. A total of 10,935,541 vaccinated children were included, with a mean or median age range of 8.0–9.5 years across studies. 46.0%-55.9% of participants were female.

2,635,251 unimmunized children were included, with a mean or median age range of 7.0 to 9.5 years. 44.3% to 51.7% were women. The follow-up period ranged from 7 to 90 days.

Children who received two doses of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine were found to have a lower risk of infection, regardless of whether they had symptoms, compared with unvaccinated children (odds ratio [OR], 0.47; 95% CI, 0.35–0.64). Vaccinated children were more likely to have symptomatic COVID-19 infection (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.41-0.70), hospitalization (OR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.15-0.68), and MIS-C (OR, 0.05; 95% CI, 0.02–0.10).

Vaccinated children were more likely to have any AE compared with unvaccinated children (OR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.26-2.91). Most events resolved him in 1-2 days, but localized pain and redness may last him 3 days or longer.

Vaccinated children experienced at least one AE after the first injection (86.3%; 95% CI, 74.1%-93.3%) and the second injection (86.3%; 95% CI, 73.8%-93.4%). experienced.

Much fewer children developed systemic AEs after the first injection (45.1%; 95% CI, 34.3%-56.5%) and the second injection (56.4%; 95% CI, 38.8%-72.5%).

AEs that interfered with daily activities were not statistically significant.

This study had several limitations. Most of the included studies evaluated the efficacy of only one mRNA vaccine, making the validity of the results unclear. A one-group meta-analysis was used to estimate the incidence of AEs. Therefore, the incidence may be underestimated. A detailed history of adverse events and patient characteristics were not available. Effectiveness for post-COVID conditions is unknown. Finally, only one study evaluated the efficacy of vaccines that included a third dose.

The researchers concluded that a meta-analysis demonstrated that COVID-19 vaccination was associated with reduced risk of infection, related illnesses, and hospitalization in children aged 5 to 11 years.

reference

Watanabe A, Kani R, Iwagami M, Takagi H, Yasuhara J, Kuno T. Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in children aged 5-11 years: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA PediatricsPublished online January 23, 2023. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.6243