Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine may be less effective in young children ages 5-11, new data shows
- Pfizer's vaccine may be less effective in young children compared to older kids and adults, new data shows.
- The vaccine, which is given in a smaller dosage to children ages 5-11, was only 12% effective.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine may be far less effective in young children ages 5-11 compared to older children and adults, new data found.
Data collected by health officials in New York State looked at outcomes in vaccination status among 852,384 fully-vaccinated children 12-17 years and 365,502 children 5-11 years from December 13, 2021, to January 30, 2022.
They found there was "limited evidence on the effectiveness" of the Pfizer vaccine in younger children, with effectiveness dropping to 12% from 68%. In comparison, health officials saw a significantly smaller drop in effectiveness in children children ages 12-17 years old, from 68% to 51%.
While the Pfizer vaccine offers little protection against COVID-19, the vaccine prompted a decline in hospitalization rates from 100% to 48%, per the data set.
"In the Omicron era, the effectiveness against cases of BNT162b2 declined rapidly for children, particularly those 5-11 years," health officials said in the online post of the data. "However, vaccination of children 5-11 years was protective against severe disease and is recommended."
"These results highlight the potential need to study alternative vaccine dosing for children and the continued importance layered protections, including mask-wearing, to prevent infection and transmission," they continued.
The Pfizer vaccine is the only approved vaccine for children younger than 18 years old. Recipients receive a smaller dose than adults, which may point to the lower effectiveness rate of the shot in young children, who are administered an even smaller dose compared to older children or adults.
The new data finding comes after Pfizer and BioNTech asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 years old. But less than two weeks later, the vaccine manufacturer postponed the request after the two doses, given at an even smaller dosage, didn't produce a strong enough immune response in children 6 months through 4 years of age.