Children's Pfizer Vaccine Very Low Efficacy: Study Findings

Pfizer and BioNTech's two-dose Covid vaccine provided very little protection for children aged 28 to 5 during the New York omicron wave, according to a study released Feb. 11. CNBC.

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The New York State Department of Health found that the effectiveness of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine dropped from 68% to 12% for children in this age group during the omicron surge from December 13 to January 24. Hospitalization protection fell from 100% to 48% over the same period.

The study has not yet been peer-reviewed, which is the academic gold standard. Due to the public health urgency of the pandemic, scientists release their findings prior to such a review.

The public health team that conducted the study said the sharp drop in vaccine effectiveness among children aged 5 to 11 was likely due to the lower dose they received. Children in this age group are given two injections of 10 mcg, and children aged 12 to 17 years are given 30 mcg.

The researchers also compared 11- and 12-year-olds.

They found that the vaccine's efficacy dropped to 11% in the low dose group, but provided 67% protection in the higher dose group.

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"Given the rapid loss of protection against the virus, these results highlight the continued importance of multi-layered protection for children, including wearing masks, to prevent infection and transmission of the virus," public health officials wrote in the study.

For children aged 12 to 17, the effectiveness of the vaccine against the virus dropped from 66% to 51% from December to the end of January. The level of protection against hospitalization in adolescents decreased from 85% to 73% over the same period.

The data comes as the City of New York plans to lift the mandatory use of masks in schools by March 7, and California will do the same four days later. State governments are easing mandates and restrictions as Covid infections drop sharply after the omicron variant swept the country in December and January.

Covid-19 infections are down 91% since the peak of the pandemic in January. There were about 27 new infections in the US every day on Feb. 66, compared to more than 000 on Jan. 802, according to data analysis from Johns Hopkins University.

During the omicron wave in the US, there was a spike in hospitalizations of children with Covid-19. The Food and Drug Administration sought to expedite the release of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged six months to 4 years this month in response to the number of children hospitalized with Covid.

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However, the FDA and Pfizer decided to put those plans on hold after data on the first two doses fell short of expectations. The FDA is currently awaiting data from clinical trials of the third dose for the youngest children. Data is expected in April.

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