Journal Article

Effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA Vaccination Against COVID-19 Hospitalization Among Persons Aged 12–18 Years — United States, June–September 2021

Schuster, Jennifer E., Pannaraj, Pia S., Gertz, Shira J., Irby, Katherine, Chatani, Brandon M., Schwartz, Stephanie P., Chiotos, Kathleen, Cvijanovich, Natalie Z., Nofziger, Ryan A., Boutselis, Benjamin J., Cullimore, Melissa L., Randolph, Adrienne G., Halasa, Natasha B., Maddux, Aline B., Levy, Emily R., Patel, Manish M., Mack, Elizabeth H., Olson, Samantha M., Newhams, Margaret M., Boom, Julie A., Walker, Tracie C., Campbell, Angela P., Price, Ashley M., Kong, Michele, Staat, Mary A., Bradford, Tamara T., Cameron, Melissa A., Sahni, Leila C., Zambrano, Laura D.

2021

Overview

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is authorized for use in children and adolescents aged 12-15 years and is licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for persons aged ≥16 (1). A randomized placebo-controlled trial demonstrated an efficacy of 100% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 75.3%-100%) in preventing outpatient COVID-19 in persons aged 12-15 years (2); however, data among adolescents on vaccine effectiveness (VE) against COVID-19 in real-world settings are limited, especially among hospitalized patients. In early September 2021, U.S. pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations reached the highest level during the pandemic (3,4). In a test-negative, case-control study at 19 pediatric hospitals in 16 states during June 1-September 30, 2021, the effectiveness of 2 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 hospitalization was assessed among children and adolescents aged 12-18 years. Among 464 hospitalized persons aged 12-18 years (179 case-patients and 285 controls), the median age was 15 years, 72% had at least one underlying condition, including obesity, and 68% attended in-person school. Effectiveness of 2 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 hospitalization was 93% (95% CI = 83%-97%), during the period when B.1.617.2 (Delta) was the predominant variant. This evaluation demonstrated that 2 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are highly effective at preventing COVID-19 hospitalization among persons aged 12-18 years and reinforces the importance of vaccination to protect U.S. youths against severe COVID-19.

• Publisher: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC),U.S. Government Printing Office,U.S. Center for Disease Control,Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Subject: Adolescent / Adolescents / Antigens / Child / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / COVID-19 - epidemiology / COVID-19 - prevention & control / COVID-19 vaccines / COVID-19 Vaccines - administration & dosage / Disease transmission / Documentation / Dosage / Effectiveness / Electronic health records / Female / Full Report / Hospital patients / Hospitalization / Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data / Humans / Illnesses / Immunization / Intensive care / Male / Medical records / Messenger RNA / mRNA / mRNA Vaccines / Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children / Patients / Pediatrics / Pharmaceutical industry / Public health / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Teenagers / United States - epidemiology / Vaccination / Vaccine efficacy / Vaccines / Vaccines, Synthetic