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Negative vaccination effectiveness in children: After criticism, the RKI justifies the value 0

2022-04-15T09:54:04.156Z


Negative vaccination effectiveness in children: After criticism, the RKI justifies the value 0 Created: 04/15/2022Updated: 04/15/2022 11:47 am By: Yasina Hipp A negative vaccination effectiveness in children does not mean that there is a risk of corona infection. © picture alliance/dpa/Daniel Reinhardt For a few months, vaccinations against the coronavirus have also been recommended for the li


Negative vaccination effectiveness in children: After criticism, the RKI justifies the value 0

Created: 04/15/2022Updated: 04/15/2022 11:47 am

By: Yasina Hipp

A negative vaccination effectiveness in children does not mean that there is a risk of corona infection.

© picture alliance/dpa/Daniel Reinhardt

For a few months, vaccinations against the coronavirus have also been recommended for the little ones.

However, data from the RKI now show negative vaccination effectiveness - what is behind it?

Berlin – Last summer, the Standing Vaccination Commission (StiKo) issued a recommendation that children from the age of twelve should and can also be vaccinated against the corona virus*.

For even smaller children, i.e. from five to eleven years, the experts recommend vaccination only in the case of previous illnesses or in contact with risk groups*.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), around 21.9 percent of five to eleven year olds have been vaccinated at least once, and 19 percent are already considered to have had basic immunization (as of April 14, 2022).

In the latest weekly report*, the Berlin institute is now causing a stir with one keyword: "Negative vaccination effectiveness in the age groups from five to eleven years and twelve to seventeen years", can be read there.

A Twitter user vents his anger online and accuses the RKI of hiding this information.

Corona vaccination: negative value of vaccination effectiveness cannot be interpreted

The user is outraged that the RKI only gives the vaccination effectiveness as 0, although it would actually be in the negative range.

The RKI * comments to

Welt

as follows: "An estimated negative value cannot be meaningfully interpreted and is therefore shown with a 0." This means that a basic immunization compared to no basic immunization does not offer any additional protection against a disease.

The RKI also emphasizes that the negative value does not mean that "the vaccination itself increases the risk of falling ill."

What does vaccine effectiveness actually mean?

With the vaccination effectiveness, the various vaccines are compared in terms of their effectiveness.

Biontech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines offer

90%

vaccine efficacy against serious disease and 75% efficacy against infection.

This means that those who are fully vaccinated against Corona are about 90% less likely to become seriously ill with COVID-19 than those who are not.

The following findings result for the effectiveness:

- Both mRNA vaccination (Biontech/Moderna) and Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca) vaccination provide better protection against severe disease than against any symptomatic infection.

- The efficacy of both vaccine types against a serious illness is very good for the alpha, delta and omicron variants.

At Omikron, there are initial findings that show that the effectiveness of basic immunization is clearly declining.

- Vaccination protection is more pronounced at younger ages than at older ages, regardless of vaccine type and virus variant.

- There are clear indications that vaccination protection decreases over time.

(Source: RKI COVID-19 and Vaccination: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ))

Negative vaccination effectiveness in children: This is how the value comes about

The RKI has already made it clear that negative vaccination effectiveness does not mean that the vaccination increases the risk of contracting Corona*.

But how does the negative value come about in the first place?

The experts justify this with "statistical uncertainty or a distortion in the data".

Due to the low number of cases of treatment in intensive care units or even deaths and the low vaccination rate in the age groups, the calculation then comes to negative values.

In addition, the majority of children who have been vaccinated twice may be at greater risk of infection due to previous illnesses or other risk factors.

Here, too, there are distortions.

It is important to emphasize that a negative vaccination effectiveness in no way indicates that the vaccination promotes a corona infection in any way.

Andrew Ullmann, health expert for the FDP, also emphasizes this.

He says: “I think it is logical and consistent that the RKI does not portray the effectiveness of vaccination as negative.” However, at the same time, Ullmann also calls for the situation to be closely monitored and kept in mind with regard to the vaccination of children.

*Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-04-15

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