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Photo: Angela Waye / Stocksy United
A study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) examined the extent to which a corona vaccination also protects adolescents from PIM's multi-inflammatory syndrome ("Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome").
Pims is a disease that in very rare cases can occur in children and adolescents some time after a corona infection. These complications usually occur two to six weeks after a Sars CoV-2 infection, which was mild or even completely without symptoms. The inflammatory response can affect the heart, lungs, kidneys, intestines, and the brain. Affected people can develop a fever and rash, diarrhea or abdominal pain, and in particularly severe cases multi-organ failure can occur - a life-threatening situation.
The CDC study enrolled 283 adolescents in the United States who were treated for pims in various children's hospitals between July and December 2021.
The effectiveness of the Biontech vaccine against the disease was therefore 91 percent.
The analysis provides supporting evidence that vaccinating children and adolescents offers a high level of protection against Pims and Covid-19, according to the CDC.
The overwhelming majority of the patients studied were unvaccinated (95 percent).
39 percent of unvaccinated Pims patients required life support.
Only five of these patients were fully vaccinated and did not require any life support.
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In the United States, more than 62 million people have tested positive for the coronavirus so far, and more than 840,000 have died.
According to the CDC, more than 6000 minors have contracted Pims so far and 55 children have died.
During the period studied, Delta was the predominant virus variant.
The study is therefore only meaningful for this corona variant.
Only the age group from 12 to 18 years of age was examined, as the Biontech vaccine for younger children in the USA has only been available since November 2021.
In Germany, 549 children and adolescents have contracted pims since May 2020, shows the data collection of the German Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases (DGPI).
The majority of Pims cases required intensive medical treatment.
In this country, only the mRNA vaccine from Biontech is approved for the corona vaccination of children and adolescents.
The Stiko generally recommends vaccination for all adolescents from the age of twelve.
According to the RKI, 55 percent of 12 to 17 year olds in Germany are now double vaccinated, 10 percent already have a booster vaccination.
For children between 5 and 11 years of age, the Stiko recommendation only applies to previous illnesses, but parents can also have their children vaccinated without previous illnesses.
According to the RKI, 11 percent of this age group are simply vaccinated.
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