The CDC published a new study on its weekly report on Friday revealing that two doses of Pfizer vaccine were only 31% effective in preventing symptomatic and asymptomatic Omicron infection among children aged 5–11 years but a little higher among adolescents 12-15.
“Two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine received <5 months earlier were moderately effective (31%) in preventing symptomatic and asymptomatic Omicron infection among children aged 5–11 years and 59% effective among adolescents aged 12–15 years,” the study explained.
There were 1,052 participants in the 5-11 years cohort and 312 participants in the 12-15 cohort, a total of 1,364 participants.
“Among the 1,052 participants aged 5–11 years, 682 (65%) received 2 vaccine doses, 69 (7%) received 1 dose, and 301 (29%) were unvaccinated. Adjusted VE (vaccine effectiveness) against symptomatic and asymptomatic Omicron infection 14–82 days after receipt of dose 2 (the longest interval after dose 2 in this age group) was 31%. Among 312 adolescents aged 12–15 years, 212 (68%) received 2 vaccine doses, 15 (5%) received 1 dose, and 85 (27%) were unvaccinated. The adjusted VE at 14–149 days after receipt of dose 2 was 87% against Delta infection and 59% against Omicron infection. Adjusted VE ≥150 days after dose 2 was 60% against Delta infection and 62% against Omicron, with wide CIs that included zero.”
However, the study concluded that “all eligible children and adolescents should remain up to date with recommended COVID-19 vaccinations.”
“In this prospective cohort study of children and adolescents aged 5–15 years that included routine weekly SARS-CoV-2 testing, irrespective of symptoms, 2 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were effective in preventing symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections, although effectiveness varied by variant.”
It should be recalled that the Food and Drug Administration postponed its meeting of expert advisers on February 15 about using Pfizer’s two-dose Covid-19 on young kids under five years old after new data was submitted.
Former FDA Commissioner and Pfizer Board Member Dr. Scott Gottlieb said the FDA delayed its decision to vaccinate kids 6 months old to 4 years old due to new data about the vaccine’s efficacy during his interview on Face the Nation.
“There were no new safety issues coming out of the data set. The issue here is the ability for the FDA and provider to clearly define the level of efficacy that the vaccine is delivering,” Gottlieb said during the interview.
Even the New York State Department of Health found that the effectiveness of Pfizer shots against the Omicron variant is only 12%.
“The New York State Department of Health found that the effectiveness of Pfizer’s vaccine against Covid infection plummeted from 68% to 12% for kids in that age group during the omicron surge from Dec. 13 through Jan 24. Protection against hospitalization dropped from 100% to 48% during the same period,” CNBC reported.
Alex Berenson noted that the same New York report showed that effectiveness goes negative after just over a month:
