Pfizer shots protect kids from severe COVID even in omicron

Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine gave children five and older strong protection against hospitalisation and death even during the omicron surge that hit youngsters especially hard, United States 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 11-year-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.”

Paediatricians say the back-and-forth results may seem confusing but that parents need to understand that 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 paediatric hospitalisations in 10 states from last April to the end of January. The vaccine proved 74% effective against hospitalisation in 5- to 11-year-olds. Only two vaccinated children were hospitalised compared to 59 unvaccinated children.

In comparison, the vaccine was 92% to 94% effective against hospitalisation in 12- to 15-year-olds and 16- to 17-year-olds. Most of the hospitalisations in the adolescents occurred when the earlier delta variant was dominant, while most of the hospitalisations of those younger than 12 occurred during the omicron wave, which started in early December.

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