What is the Pfizer vaccine efficacy? Does it even work for kids?
Is there really a COVID-19 vaccine with major efficacy, or is it all about politics? Either way, at this point of the pandemic where a new variant pops every six months, being vaccinated is the best you can do. Even though COVID-19 vaccines won’t prevent anyone from getting the virus 100%, it’s a fact that having them will reduce the severity and the risk of death.
According to reports from national public health agencies, 10.73 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, as of February 2022. Certainly, there’s not much to do, getting vaccinated goes beyond liking or hating the pharmaceutical industry. Plus, variants get stronger every time, and vaccination certificates are becoming a must to attend almost any place.
Pfizer has been historically known for its pharmacological efficacy & contributions to the world. Also, for changing the way our bodies work sexually, how can we forget the Viagra Tab, the magic blue pill? But is the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine efficacy the same? At least, it was the first COVID-19 vaccine to obtain an FDA Emergency Use Authorization in the U.S. (December 2020).
Pfizer vaccine structure & efficacy
In December 2020, Pfizer reported its vaccine as highly effective at preventing symptomatic disease. Let’s have in mind that COVID-19 information changes as variants pop up. By 2020 Omicron & Delta variants weren’t a prospect, and several countries didn’t have access to the vaccine at all. However, the Pfizer vaccine is famous for its efficacy, yet, there are (rare) effects like myocarditis to take care of.
Knowing the way vaccines work is important to determine when it’s wise to get a booster dose or if it is prudent to combine it with other vaccines. The COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine has an RNA messenger, which is a new effective technology. The mRNA technology sends instructions to body host cells to make copies of a spike protein. Then, the immune system reacts by activating immune cells.
The situation with Pfizer vaccines is that they must be stored in the freezer, making its distribution harder than with other brands. Yet, Pfizer/BioNTech is one of the three vaccines applied in the U.S. with Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. The COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine was granted full FDA approval in august 2021, for people over six-teen, but, does it work for kids?
Does Pfizer work for kids?
If getting a simple COVID-19 vaccine in adults is controversial for all the political implications and secondary effects, childhood vaccination is a harder topic. Before Omicron, children weren’t considered to have important risks over COVID-19, but with new variants popping up and back to school coming, kids must be protected. What’s Pfizer’s vaccine efficacy on kids?
According to New York State researchers, two doses of the Pfizer vaccine were proved to be protective against serious disease in children from five to eleven years. Yet, the defensive effect quickly lost most of its preventive efficacy in this age group. However, in late January, for adolescents from twelve to seventeen showed the vaccine’s protection fell to 51% from 66% in mid-December.
The correct management of the vaccine in kids is still being investigated. Nevertheless, the vaccine was 48% effective in keeping younger ages out of the hospital, and 73% efficient among adolescents against hospitalization in January.
Two years have gone by since the pandemic started and it’s interesting to look back and remember all the measures that were taken and now have no sense. The results of the vaccines in children confirm that unfortunately, this is a never-ending process (hopefully it’ll end) and dosing must change for each age group. There are several things that’ll be created and discovered, meanwhile, vaccines are all we have.
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Have you gotten vaccinated yet? What do you think about kids getting vaccinated? Tell us in the comments below!
