The Pfizer COVID-19 booster vaccine is being filled with by a Safeway pharmacist at a vaccine clinic in San Rafael, California.
A new study found that two doses of Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine are highly effective at protecting children from a severe inflammatory condition associated with Covid infections.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Pfizer's vaccine was effective in protecting adolescents against multisystem inflammatory syndrome.
The CDC looked at 283 hospitalized patients ages 12 to 18 across 24 hospitals in 20 states from July to December of 2021. Pfizer shots weren't available to younger kids until November, so the analysis focused on the 12- to 18-year-olds.
Due to the timing of the study, vaccine efficacy against MIS-C caused by the omicron variant could not be determined.
The heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, and gastrointestinal organs are all affected by MIS-C. The CDC says that children usually develop MIS-C two to six weeks after a Covid infections.
According to the CDC, more than 6,000 children have been affected by MIS-C since May 2020. Most of the patients are Hispanic or Black, and most are between the ages of 5 and 13 years old. 98% of the known cases tested positive for Covid, while 2% had exposure to the virus, according to the CDC.
The study compared patients who tested negative for Covid with patients who did not have symptoms. 98% of patients were unvaccinated. None of the five fully vaccine-vaccinated patients needed life support, while 39% of unvaccinated patients did.
The CDC concluded in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that the importance of vaccination of all eligible children was underscored by the analysis.
The two-dose Pfizer vaccine is available to children ages 5 and up. Pfizer gives booster shots to adolescents at least five months after their second dose.
