Study reinforces benefits of COVID-19 vaccines in children and adolescents.
Vaccination against Covid-19 in children and adolescents is a good public health measure, concludes a study published this Wednesday (5), which found that young patients face a greater risk of developing problems after an infection than side effects after the vaccine.
In people under 18, "a first COVID infection is associated with infrequent but serious health risks that persist for several months," states the study published in 'The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health' and based on retrospective data from millions of young British patients between 2020 and 2022.
In turn, "the risks observed after a first vaccination are limited to the period immediately following it and are significantly lower than after a SARS-CoV-2 infection," add the authors, who specifically addressed the Pfizer vaccine.
The research provides elements to answer a particularly sensitive question since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, regarding the need to vaccinate younger people. In this population group, the risks associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection appear to be much lower than in older people.
Vaccines using messenger RNA technology – such as Pfizer's and Moderna's, which is now practically obsolete – can, in very rare cases, cause heart problems.
However, according to the study published this Wednesday, the cardiac risks of a Covid infection far outweigh those associated with the Pfizer vaccine, even in young people. The researchers mention complications such as "thromboembolism, thrombocytopenia, myocarditis, and pericarditis."
The results “reinforce the idea that maintaining vaccination in children and young people is an effective public health measure,” the authors conclude.
In the study, although the authors were able to assess the consequences of an infection in all those under 18 years of age, they only analyzed the effects of vaccination in individuals aged 5 to 18 years, since administering COVID-19 vaccines is rare in very young children.
The conclusions “refer to the strains of Covid that were circulating at that time and not to the less dangerous ones that are currently circulating,” highlighted pediatrician Adam Finn, who is not involved in the study, in a response to the British Science Media Centre.
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