Although it has been administered to children aged 5 and over since 2021, a precise estimate could not be made of the efficacy of Pfizer BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine in preventing Omicron infection, as infected children often show very mild symptoms. However, a new study revealed the effect of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on children.
Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine significantly reduces the risk of infection of the Omicron variant, according to a new study of 1,364 children published Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study also found that children with all doses were less likely to survive the disease in bed than those who were not vaccinated.
Pfizer-BioNTech reduces the risk of Omicron infection in children 12-15 years of age by approximately 60 percent
A larger study conducted from July 25 to February 12. The study, which is part of a pediatric study, looked at 1,052 children ages 5 to 11 and 312 children ages 12 to 15 who were tested weekly for Covid-19 regardless of symptoms. Unlike previous studies, which mainly relied on data from symptomatic Covid-19 patients seeking medical care and whose results were inconclusive, especially as home-based Covid-19 testing became more common, this new study followed both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients.
In the study, which showed that Pfizer-BioNTechc reduced the risk of Omicron transmission by 31 percent among children aged 5-11, and by 59 percent among children aged 12-15, at the same time, fully vaccinated children had an average of 1.4 hours in bed due to illness. It was determined that this period was 1.9 days for the unvaccinated.
However, among unvaccinated children who tested positive for COVID-19, the study showed that 66 percent of those with delta variant infection and 49 percent of those with Omicron reported symptoms, Pfize- Supported that the BioNTech vaccine is also effective in preventing Delta variant infection in children aged 12 years and older.
On the other hand, in the study, it was determined that vaccinated children who caught Omicron missed school for 26.2 hours on average, and this period was 18.8 hours on average for unvaccinated children. In the study, which showed that the vaccine did not make a big difference in the need for medical care, it was noted that 15.5 percent of the vaccinated participants who got Omicron and 16.4 percent of the unvaccinated participants needed care.
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