The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was approved from young children in October, and was met with some hesitancy by parents.
Only 27% of children ages 5-to-11-years-old, 7.7 million in total, have received two doses of the vaccine as of March 30, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American Academy of Pediatrics.
According to a recent study from The New England Journal of Medicine that was published on March 30, the COVID-19 vaccine reduced hospitalizations by 68% in children ages 5-to-11-years-old during the peak of the omicron variant.
Dr. Adrienne Randolph, M.D., M.Sc, at Boston Children’s Hospital and the CDC, co-led the study and explained in a press release why it's important for young children to get the vaccine.
"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.
"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."
Overall, 34% or 9.6 million children in this age group have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
In comparison, 17 million people ages 12-to-17-years-old have received at least one dose of their COVID-19 vaccine, accounting for 67% in the age group. While 14.5 million, or 58%, have received two doses of the vaccine, and another 8.2 million have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The study was done from July 17, 2021 to February 17, and showed that 92% of children ages 5-to-11-years-old that had to be hospitalized were unvaccinated.
Additionally, 16% of them were critically ill and needed intubation or other forms of live support. Of that 16%, 90% were unvaccinated.
The numbers were similar for older children and teenagers, as 87% of those hospitalized ages 12-to-18-years-old were unvaccinated. In the more serious cases, 27% suffered from critical illness and of that, 93% were unvaccinated.
Vaccinations in people ages 12-to-18-years-old prevented hospitalizations 92% of the time against the delta variant, but only 40% against the omicron variant. Although, the vaccine prevented critical illness 96% against delta and 79% against omicron.
"We hope our findings will help parents make the decision to vaccinate their children and teens against COVID-19," Randolph said. "The benefits clearly outweigh the risks, as severe infections in childhood can have long-term consequences."
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