The Vaccine of the Covid-19 of Pfizer / Biontech is highly effective in adolescents, according to a study focused on the Delta variant of SARS-COV-2 and that shows that in totally vaccinated young people the risk of symptomatic disease decreased by 93% in
Comparison with non-vaccinated.
The work is published in the magazine The New England Journal of Medicine with adolescent population data from Israel, and its responsibility is the Israeli Institute of Clalit Research, in collaboration with the University of Harvard (United States).
The analysis provides the highest published assessment on the effectiveness of a VACCO-19 vaccine among adolescents, in a massive vaccination environment at the national level, and supposes the first study of this kind in which the Delta variant was dominant, affirms
A statement from the Clalit Research Center.
The study took place between June 8 and September 14, coinciding with the fourth wave, during which the Delta variant was dominant for new infections in the country.
The researchers reviewed the data of 94,354 vaccinated adolescents between 12 and 18 years old.
These were carefully paired -explays the authors-with 94,354 adolescents not vaccinated depending on a large set of demographic, geographical and health characteristics associated with the risk of infection, the risk of serious illness or health status.
The results show that in fully vaccinated adolescents (between 7 and 21 days after the second dose), the symptomatic Covid-19 risk decreased by 93% compared to those not vaccinated, while the risk of documented infection decreased a 90
%.
In the period immediately prior to the second dose (days 14 to 20 after the first dose), the effectiveness of the vaccine was lower, but even so substantial: the risk of symptomatic Covid-19 decreased 57% in vaccinated individuals,
and the risk of infection documented by 59%.
There were not enough data to provide an estimate on the reduction of the incidence of serious illness, hospitalization and mortality, since these results are rare among adolescents, precise the note of the center.
The principal author of the Clalit Study and Director, Ran Balicer, points out that these results convincingly show that a week after the second dose, this vaccine is highly effective against the symptomatic VOCID-19 and against all documented infections in adolescents
.
“These data should facilitate individual decision making informed about the risk-benefit relationship and, in our opinion, constitute a solid argument in favor of the option of vaccinating, especially in the countries where the virus is currently extended,” he adds
.
For Ben Reis, from the Boston Children’s Hospital and the Faculty of Medicine of Harvard, “To date, one of the main factors of indecision in vaccination has been the lack of information about the effectiveness of the vaccine”.
“This careful epidemiological study provides reliable information, which we hope will be useful for those who have not yet been decided by vaccination.”
