[ad_1]
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine provided less protection against the omicron variant than the delta strain in children but did protect against severe illness from both variants, according to a published study in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.
The report stated that vaccination of 5- to 11-year-olds reduced hospitalizations with COVID-19 by more than two-thirds during the omicron surge and protected against severe illness.
Researchers found that vaccination also reduced COVID-19 associated hospitalizations in adolescents aged 12-18 and protected strongly against severe illness, according to the study that was co-led by Dr. Adrienne Randolph, M.D., M.Sc, at Boston Children’s Hospital along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
COVID PANDEMIC TAKES TOLL ON KEY MEDICAL SUPPORT COMMUNITY
“The reason for a child to get a COVID-19 vaccine is to prevent severe complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection, including hospitalization,” Randolph said in a press release.
child and adult holding red heart with stethoscope, heart health, health insurance concept
(Credit: iStock)
“This evidence shows that vaccination reduces this risk substantially in 5- to 11-year-olds. And while vaccination provided adolescents with lower protection against hospitalization with omicron versus delta, it prevented critical illness from both variants.”
OMICRON BA.2 SUB-VARIANT NOW GLOBALLY PREVALENT
The study looked at data obtained from 1185 patients hospitalized with Covid-19 ranging from 5 to 18 years of age and 1627 control patients of similar age not diagnosed with Covid-19 in 31 pediatric hospitals in 23 states from July 2021 through February 2022.
The researchers found that overall, 88 percent of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were unvaccinated and 25 percent required life-supporting measures.
They delved further to find that 92 percent of the children ages 5-11 hospitalized with COVID-19 were…
[ad_2]
Source : foxnews
