Lauren Dempsey, MS in Biomedicine and Law, RN, FISM News
A new study conducted in New York was released this week indicating that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is significantly less effective in children aged 5-11 than children aged 12-17.
The data shows that protection against infection and hospitalization post-vaccination declines quickly and significantly in both age groups but seems to be more dramatic in children aged 5-11. These findings come after Pfizer reported failing to find an optimal dose for children under 5 and also raises questions about whether Pfizer has the ability to correctly determine the appropriate dosage for children.
The study gathered data to evaluate “vaccine effectiveness against COVID cases and hospitalizations among children 5-11 years and 12-17 years during December, 2021 and January, 2022.” The state recorded more than 850,000 COVID cases in adolescents aged 17 or younger and during the time frame of the study. Data suggests that protection from infection in fully vaccinated children aged 5 to 11 decreased over time from 68% to 12%, while the vaccine’s effectiveness at preventing hospitalization also declined from 100% to 48%. The results show that vaccine effectiveness dropped significantly one-month post-vaccination.
Pfizer’s current vaccine regimen for those 12 and older is two doses of 30 micrograms each, given 21 days apart. Children 5 to 11 years old receive a dose that is one-third that size, getting two separate doses of 10 micrograms. While still in the clinical trial phase, children aged 6 months to 4 years old are currently receiving two 3 microgram doses.
With more studies showing the poor efficacy of the vaccine, experts are wondering if Pfizer should increase the dose given to children. Dr. Susannah Hills, a pediatric surgeon from Columbia University Medical Center, has said this trial and error is normal for new vaccines.
Pfizer remains “confident in the protection and safety” of their products and the pandemic has allowed the pharmaceutical giant to rebrand their public image after decades of fraud, corruption, and criminality. Since 1991 the company has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements with the government and the public for business practices that have led to thousands of deaths, violated anti-racketeering laws, bribery, and defrauded the government.
Additional data from the CDC suggests that two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine offer very little protection for either of these age groups amidst the Omicron surge. The agency, however, continues to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated, even though children face very little risk associated with infection.
As more data emerges in studies that include adults and children, one thing is increasingly clear, the vaccines are failing to perform as they were promised they would. They do not prevent transmission as was initially reported by Pfizer-BioNTech, public health officials and physicians, which raises the considerations that perhaps it is time that the focus shifts to vaccinating those that are most at risk for infection that results in severe illness and hospitalization and not children.