New data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week indicates that recent COVID vaccines were effective at keeping 76% of children aged 9 months to 4 years old out of emergency rooms and urgent care units.
This study included in the Thursday Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report clarified that the results showed efficacy during the first seven to 179 days after vaccination. It covered the period from Aug. 29 of last year to Sept. 2 of this year.
Just before that timeframe, from September 2023 through last August, approximately 38,000 COVID-19-associated hospitalizations occurred among children and adolescents younger than 18. COVID vaccines were recommended for children during the pandemic and in June 2024, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccination for all persons 6 months and older.
Vaccines are still recommended “for people ages 6 months and older based on individual-based decision-making,” per the CDC.
However, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was appointed this year by President Donald Trump, is known for being critical of vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines. In May, he said COVID vaccines were not recommended for pregnant women and healthy children and the entire vaccine committee was removed in June. Last month, the CDC published a web page linking autism and vaccines (a link that some experts dispute) and Kennedy said it went up on his directions.
According to the new data, the 2024-2025 COVID vaccines were also effective at preventing emergency department and urgent care visits for more than half (56%) of children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 years old. That’s compared to children who did not receive the 2024-2025 vaccines. Investigators used a “test-negative case-control design” to test vaccine effectiveness.
“In a population with some persons having preexisting levels of protection from previous vaccination, previous infection, or both, 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccination provided children with additional protection against COVID-19–associated ED/UC encounters compared with no 2024–2025 vaccination,” said the CDC publication.