Vaccination linked to reduced odds ratio of COVID-19-related emergency department or urgent care encounter, outpatient visits<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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FRIDAY, Sept. 15, 2023 (HealthDay News) — For children younger than 5 years, receiving two or three doses of the wild-type BNT162b2 vaccine is associated with a reduced risk for COVID-19 encounters in the emergency department or urgent care or in outpatient settings, according to a research letter published online Sept. 15 in the Journal of the American Medical Association<\/em>.<\/p>\n Sara Y. Tartof, Ph.D., M.P.H., from Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena, and colleagues estimated the association between receipt of the wild-type BNT162b2 vaccine and medically attended COVID-19 outcomes among children younger than 5 years. Data were included for 24,261 emergency department, urgent care, or outpatient acute respiratory infection encounters (48, 29, and 23 percent, respectively) during the study period.<\/p>\n The researchers found that 10 percent had positive test results for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and 6 percent were vaccinated. Overall, 3.3 and 6.3 percent of cases and controls (without positive test results for SARS-CoV-2), respectively, were vaccinated with two or three doses of BNT162b2. For children who received two or three doses of BNT162b2, the adjusted odds ratio was 0.70, 0.60, and 0.67 for a COVID-19-related emergency department or urgent care encounter, outpatient visits, and either outcome, respectively. The risk for a positive test result for SARS-CoV-2 during emergency department or urgent care and outpatient encounters among those who received two and three doses was 0.56 and 0.88, respectively.<\/p>\n “Updated vaccines will likely be needed to maintain protection against contemporary omicron strains in young children,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Several authors disclosed ties to pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, which funded the study.<\/p>\n Abstract\/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/i><\/p>\n