The Covid vaccine in age range 5-11 it is useful but, according to a substantial study by the Higher Institute of Health and the Ministry of Health, less than you imagined. The survey, published on Lancet and the only one outside the United States on this issue, has put the data under the lens over a million children“Even moderate protection contributed significantly to reducing the effects of the infection,” the authors write. So there are no doubts about the use. The survey, carried out between January 17 and April 13, when the Omicron BA.1 variant was predominant, confirms that among the 767 thousand cases registered in that period the highest incidence it took place in the group of Not vaccinatedi (426.9 per 100 thousand “person days”) and the lowest in those vaccinated with two doses (234.5 per 100 thousand). The severe cases were 644, all hospitalized, as well as 15 hospitalizations in intensive care and two deaths, only among the unvaccinated (one case concerned a child suffering from a serious underlying disease). The incidence of severe disease was found double in unvaccinated (0.6 per 100 thousand “person-days” versus 0.3).
The point, it seems, is that the effectiveness – to be precise it is the “effectiveness», The effectiveness, that is the degree of vaccination protection in the real world – of the anti Covid Pfizer vaccine, the only one used in that age group, it was lower than that found in the licensing studies: protection against infection was del 29% and against severe illness of the 41%. Pfizer claimed efficacy at the time more than 90%, with a very wide range of credibility (67-99%). Nonetheless, children who were not vaccinated suffered double the incidence of age-matched children with two doses. In other words, they risked much more than the children for whom the parents chose for the two injections. They are consistent with those of other studies already published and always related to efficacy.
«The analysis – the authors underline in the article – refers to a specific period in which the Omicron variant was predominant. Even moderate protection contributed significantly to reducing the effects of the infection, especially the more serious ones, as evidenced by the difference in the incidence of severe cases in the two groups ». On the other hand, the discrepancy in the results is also due to reduced scope of the phase 3 clinical trial conducted by the US companyin which just over 2 thousand children were involved, and which led to a painful approval even by the US FDA.
What could be the causes? In addition of course to the high immune evasion capacity of the variants of the Omicron family, there may perhaps be – as suggested by Antonio Cassone, member of the American Academy of Microbiology on Republic – the dose reduced by just 10 micrograms of mRna necessary to maximize safety. A recall, authorized in the US, is therefore necessary even if Cassone always wonders if this is not the case wait for products updated to the latest variantsconsidering the low incidence of severe disease in this age group.
Vaccine against Covid for children, the FDA committee gives the green light between 5 and 11 years
Covid, the EMA authorizes the Moderna vaccine also for children between 6 and 11 years old
Source: Vanity Fair
