CDC Study Finds that Pfizer Covid Vaccine is 93% Effective Against Hospitalization for This Group

According to a new CDC study, which followed 464 Covid patients ages 12 to 18 across 19 U.S. pediatric hospitals from June to September, Pfizer’s Covid vaccine was 93% effective against hospitalization.

Among the Covid patients the CDC had followed, six were vaccinated and 173 were unvaccinated. Some 43% required intensive care, and 16% of the critically ill children received life support, with two deaths among the group, according to the study.

While roughly 72% of them had at least one underlying condition that increased their potential for severe symptoms, researchers found that 97% of those who ended up in the hospital weren’t vaccinated.

“These data suggest that increasing vaccination coverage among this group could reduce the incidence of severe COVID-19 in the United States,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers wrote in their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Another study conducted in Israel, also found that Pfizer’s Covid vaccine was almost 92% effective in preventing hospitalization among 12- to 15-year-old patients. But the Israeli study did not feature enough cases to properly gauge the vaccine’s full effectiveness against Covid hospitalizations, the CDC noted.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for anyone over 16 back in August and the vaccine is on emergency use status for children 12 to 15, pending further review.

It was in September that the CDC authorized Pfizer’s boosters for select at-risk groups last month, including anyone 65 and older, all medically vulnerable adults and those who face exposure
to Covid due to their work.

The CDC researchers noted that the study was limited by its small sample size, which prevented them from properly measuring vaccine effectiveness in patients with underlying conditions.

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