Expert reaction on studies reporting COVID-19 vaccination strongly protects adolescents against Delta
Expert reaction on studies reporting COVID-19 vaccination strongly protects adolescents against Delta
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Two new studies published on The New England Journal of Medicine and the CDC Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), show that COVID-19 vaccination strongly protects against both infection and serious illness among adolescents age 12 to 18. Both studies covered periods when the highly contagious Delta variant was the predominant circulating strain.
Two new studies published on The New England Journal of Medicine and the CDC Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), show that COVID-19 vaccination strongly protects against both infection and serious illness among adolescents age 12 to 18. Both studies covered periods when the highly contagious Delta variant was the predominant circulating strain.
Publication
Effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA Vaccination Against COVID-19 Hospitalization Among Persons Aged 12–18 Years — United States, June–September 2021
Not peer-reviewed
Peer-reviewed
Effectiveness of BNT162b2 Vaccine against Delta Variant in adolescents
Not peer-reviewed
Peer-reviewed
What our experts say
Context and background
Expert Comments:
Dr. Ángel Hernández Merino
These studies are interesting as they shed some light on the effectiveness of vaccinating adolescents with Comirnaty, for which there is very little data so far.
Another reason for the interest of both publications (Reis in NEJM and Olson in MMWR) is that they are done in a time period (June to September 2021) when the Delta variant was predominant in the countries where they were conducted.
With different designs, both studies show results along the same lines, the high protection provided by the complete regimen with the two doses:
- In the case of Reis in NEJM (observational study): 90 % and 93 % against infection and symptomatic covid, respectively.
- For Olson in MMWR (case-controls): 93 % against both hospitalization and severe disease.
It is also noteworthy that the results in adolescents do not deviate from those found in the older population, from 16-18 years of age, for which there is already abundant information.
It remains to be seen, however, whether the duration of protection in adolescents will be different from that in older adolescents, in whom a reduction in serum antibody levels over time has been observed, although not in protection against serious disease. This question is also relevant for the general population. Clarifying the duration of protection in adolescents will take even longer.
