Omicron variant: Biontech vaccine less effective in children under 12

Created: 03/01/2022 13:17

By: Tanya Banner

The corona vaccination for children from Biontech/Pfizer hardly protects against infection, but protection against a severe course of the disease is provided, a new study shows.

© Westend61/Imago Images

A study shows that 12-year-olds are significantly better protected by Biontech's corona vaccination than younger children.

Researchers have a guess.

New York – Since the end of November, the children's vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer* has been approved in the EU for children between the ages of five and eleven, in Germany the Standing Vaccination Commission recommends vaccination for children aged five to eleven with previous illnesses.

But now a study from New York shows that the vaccine in children is apparently hardly effective against a corona infection with the Omicron* variant.

Researchers led by Eli Rosenberg from the New York State Department of Health collected data from vaccinees between the ages of five and 17 between December 2021 and January 2022 and evaluated this data.

The researchers came to a result that parents are unlikely to like: “In the omicron era, the effectiveness of BNT162b2 [vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer, ed.

Red.] in children, especially in the 5-11 year olds," write the researchers in their study, which was published on the pre-print server medRxiv but has not yet been checked by experts.

Corona vaccination hardly protects children between the ages of 5 and 11 from infection with omicron

"It's disappointing but not entirely surprising given that the vaccine* was developed in response to an earlier variant," study leader Eli Rosenberg told the New York Times.

"It's very depressing to see this rapid decline, but everything is against Omicron again." Nevertheless, both Rosenberg and other experts emphasize to the US newspaper that they recommend the corona vaccination for children aged five to eleven years still recommend.

"We have to make sure we're emphasizing the donut and not the hole," the Vanderbilt University child immunization expert told the New York Times.

Because: The vaccination also protects children from the age of five against a severe course of the disease.

The study included 852,384 newly double-vaccinated children aged 12 to 17 and 365,502 children aged five to eleven years. The observation period (12/13/2021 to 01/31/2022) is at the peak of the omicron wave in the USA .

The researchers found that the effectiveness of vaccination among teenagers in preventing severe Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations fell from 85 percent (before Omikron) to 73 percent (with Omikron).

According to the study, the effectiveness against severe corona courses in younger children was 48 percent.

However, there is a large margin of error, as only a few children with severe corona courses come to the hospital.

Omicron variant: Corona vaccination for children over 12 works better

When it comes to protection against a corona infection, however, the child vaccination comes off particularly badly: while the value for older children is still 51 percent, it falls to just 12 percent for small children.

The effectiveness of the vaccination changes drastically between the ages of 11 and 12, reports the New York Times: In the week ending January 30, effectiveness against corona infection in 12-year-olds was 67 percent and 11-year-olds only at 11 percent.

"The difference between the two age groups is striking," says immunologist Florian Krammer.

But what is the difference between an eleven-year-old and a twelve-year-old?

While children aged 12 receive 30 micrograms of the corona vaccine, just like adults, younger children only receive 10 micrograms, Krammer told the New York Times.

"This is very interesting because it almost seems like the dose makes the difference," he explains.

"The question is how to fix that."

The results of the study show that it is important to collect more information about the best dose, number of vaccinations and timing of vaccination for children, emphasizes study leader Rosenberg.

So far, only the Corona vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer has been approved for children over the age of five in the USA and Europe.

The two companies are working on a vaccine for smaller children, but setbacks have recently been reported*.

Biontech and Pfizer are now testing a third vaccine for children under the age of five, but also a booster vaccine for children between the ages of five and eleven.

The results of these tests are expected in a few weeks.

In adults, studies show that three vaccinations protect against the omicron variant of the coronavirus better than two vaccinations.

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