Dr. Salma Elfaki is studying 16-year-old Diego Alvarez, a patient in a clinical trial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents conducted by Accel Research Sites with the Nona Pediatric Center in Orlando, Florida on September 25, 2021.
Paul Hennessy | SOPA pictures | LightRakete | Getty Images
Pfizer’s Covid vaccine is 93% effective at protecting against hospitalization in 12-18 year olds, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a small study published Tuesday.
The CDC tracked 464 Covid patients ages 12 to 18 in 19 U.S. children’s hospitals from June to September when the Delta variant was on the rise across the country. While about 72% of them had at least one underlying condition that increased their potential for severe symptoms, the researchers found that 97% of those who ended up in the hospital weren’t vaccinated.
“These data suggest that increasing vaccination coverage in this group could reduce the incidence of severe COVID-19 in the United States,” wrote CDC researchers in their weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report.
Of the Covid patients, 6 were vaccinated and 173 were unvaccinated. Approximately 43% of critically ill children required intensive care and 16% of critically ill children received life support, with two deaths in the group according to the study.
The CDC’s results are similar to the results of a study conducted in Israel that found that Pfizer’s Covid vaccine was nearly 92% effective at preventing hospitalization in 12-15 year old patients. However, the Israeli study did not contain enough cases to properly assess the full effectiveness of the vaccine against Covid hospital admissions, the CDC wrote.
Pfizer is currently waiting for the Food and Drug Administration to approve its vaccinations for children between the ages of 5 and 11. The company released data in September suggesting its two-dose vaccine regimen elicited a “robust” immune response in the younger pediatric age group, the FDA could clear the shots later this month.
The CDC reported that 46% of 12 to 15 year olds in the US were fully vaccinated against Covid, while 54% of 16 to 17 year olds had received a full dose series by Monday.
