CDC new data suggest Pfizer vaccine protection holds up in kids 5-11, raising questions on earlier study

CDC data suggest Pfizer vaccine protection holds up in kids 5-11, raising questions on earlier study Does the Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine provide less protection to children aged 5 to 11 than to adolescents 12 to 17? Two studies offer divergent answers. Helen Branswell STAT

Does the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine provide less protection to children aged 5 to 11 than to adolescents 12 to 17? A study from New York state released Monday suggests that’s the case. But new data from 10 states released Tuesday tell a different story.

The data, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suggest that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine aren’t very protective against infection for either age group in the face of the Omicron variant, but that protection against severe illness appears to be holding up equally in both sets of children.

They do not suggest more rapid waning, or more marked waning, among the younger group of children.

“When you look at the whole picture, we’re not seeing that signal that New York state is seeing,” Ruth Link-Gelles, the CDC’s program manager for Covid vaccine efficacy studies, told STAT in an interview.  ...