VE increased for adolescents aged 16 to 17 years at seven or more days after a third booster dose during omicron predominance<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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THURSDAY, March 3, 2022 (HealthDay News) — For adolescents, BNT162b2 vaccine effectiveness (VE) was lower against COVID-19-associated emergency department and urgent care encounters during omicron predominance, according to research published in the March 1 early-release issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report<\/em>.<\/p>\n Nicola P. Klein, M.D., from the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center in Oakland, California, and colleagues estimated VE with a case-control test-negative design using 39,217 emergency department and urgent care encounters and 1,699 hospitalizations among persons aged 5 to 17 years with COVID-19-like illness across 10 states during April 9, 2021, to Jan. 29, 2022.<\/p>\n The researchers found that VE against laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-associated emergency department and urgent care encounters was 46 percent at 14 to 67 days after dose 2 among children aged 5 to 11 years. At 14 to 149 days after dose 2, VE was 83 and 76 percent among adolescents aged 12 to 15 and 16 to 17 years, respectively; at \u00e2\u0089\u00a5150 days after dose 2, VE was 38 and 46 percent, respectively. VE increased to 86 percent seven or more days after dose 3 (booster dose) among adolescents aged 16 to 17 years. Among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, VE against COVID-19-associated emergency department and urgent care encounters was substantially lower during the omicron-predominant period than the delta-predominant period; during omicron predominance, there was no significant protection \u00e2\u0089\u00a5150 days after dose 2. VE during the omicron predominant period increased to 81 percent seven or more days after a third booster dose in adolescents aged 16 to 17 years. <\/p>\n “The findings in this report also align with studies among adults that report lower VEs during omicron variant predominance and an increase in VE after receipt of a third vaccine dose,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.<\/p>\n