Vaccine Effectiveness – Pediatric and Adolescent Patients
Page last updated 19 October 2022
Key Points
Key Points are meant to be a scientific, factual summary of the available information that relates solely to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, as supported by referenced publications within this section. Conclusions should not be drawn from the inclusion or absence of information.
- Vaccine effectiveness (VE) of BNT162b2 has been studied in Real World Evidence (RWE) studies.1-12 These studies have noted the benefit of vaccination against infection and more severe outcomes, such as hospitalization, ICU admission and Emergency Department (ED) and Urgent Care (UC) visits in children and adolescents.1-12
Outcomes
RWE on VE against several outcomes of interest has varied across studies, and these cannot be compared due to differences in study design and methodology:
- Outcomes of interest, such as confirmed infection, symptomatic infection, ED/UC visits and hospitalization, have been studied in recipients of 2 doses of BNT162b2 (reference group: unvaccinated), in periods of both Delta (B.1.617.2) and Omicron (B.1.1.529) predominance.VE% (95% CI) against the following outcomes at the listed times post last vaccine dose, has been reported:1-4, 9
| Outcome | Ages 5-11 years | Ages 12-15 years | Ages 12-18 years | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confirmed infection | Omicron | Delta | Omicron | Delta | |||
| ≥ 7 days: 65 (62-68) 12 ≥ 14 days: 45 (44-45) 11 7-21 days: 51 (39-61) 4 14–82 days: 31 (9–48) 1 30-59 days: 60 (54-66) 12 |
14–82 days: 81 (51–93) 1 |
14–82 days: 59 (24–78) 1 |
Ages 12-17, ≥ 14 days: 63 (64-67) 10 |
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| Symptomatic infection | Omicron | Omicron | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | ||||
| 7-21 days: 48 (29-63) 4 14–30 days: 60 (55–65) 9 |
14–30 days: 60 (44–71) 9 | ||||||
| ED/UC visits | Omicron | Delta | Omicron | Delta | Omicron | ||
| 14–67 days: 51 (30–65) 2 |
14–149 days: 92 (89–94) 2 |
14–149 days: 45 (30–57) 2 |
Ages 16–17, 14–149 days: 85 (81–89) 2 |
Ages 16–17, 14–149 days: 34 (8–53) 2 |
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| Hospitalization | Omicron | Delta and Omicron | Delta and Omicron | Delta | Omicron | Delta and Omicron | |
| ≥ 14 days: 68 (42–82) 3 | 14–67 days: 74 (-35–95) 2 | ≥ 14 days: 83 (77–88) 3 14–149 days: 92 (79–97) 2 |
Ages 12–18, ≥ 14 days: 92 (89–95) 3 | Ages 12–18, ≥ 14 days: 40 (9–60) 3 | Ages 16–18, ≥ 14 days: 82 (74–88) 3 | ||
| Hospitalization or death | Omicron | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | ||
| ≥ 7 days: 83 (75-88) 12 ≥ 14 days: 55 (41-66) 11 30-59 days: 80 (67-88) 12 |
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- Outcomes of interest, such as confirmed infection, symptomatic infection and hospitalization have been studied in recipients of 2 doses of BNT162b2 (reference group: unvaccinated), during a period of Delta (B.1.617.2) predominance.5-8 VE% (95% CI) against the following outcomes, at the listed times post last vaccine dose, has been reported:
| Outcome | Ages 12-15 years | Ages 12-17 years | Ages 12-18 years | Ages 16-18 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confirmed infection | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | ≥ 14 days: 92 (79–97) 6 | ≥ 14 days: 90 (79–95) 7 7–21 days: 90 (88–92) 8 |
Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology |
| Symptomatic infection | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | ≥ 14 days: 93 (81–97) 7 7–21 days: 93 (88–97) 8 |
Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology |
| Hospitalization | ≥ 14 days: 95 (88–97) 5 | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | ≥ 14 days: 94 (90–96) 5 |
≥ 14 days: 94 (88–97) 5 |
- Outcomes of interest, such as symptomatic infection and ED/UC visits, have been studied in recipients of a 3rd (1st booster) dose of BNT162b2 (reference group: unvaccinated), in a period of Omicron (B.1.1.529) and Delta (B.1.617.2) predominance.2, 9 VE% (95% CI) against the following outcomes, at the listed times post last vaccine dose, has been reported:
| Outcome | Ages 12-15 years | Ages 16-17 years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Symptomatic infection | Omicron | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | |
| 2–6.5 weeks: 71 (66–76) 9 | |||
| ED/UC visits | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | Delta or Omicron | Omicron |
| ≥ 7 days: 86 (73–93)2 | ≥ 7 days: 81 (59–91)2 | ||
Waning VE
- RWE has also highlighted waning VE over time following last dose of vaccine, in recipients of 2 doses of BNT162b2 (reference group: unvaccinated). VE% (95% CI) against the following outcomes, at the listed times post last vaccine dose has been reported:
| Outcome | Ages 12-15 years | Ages 16-17 years | Ages 12-18 years | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confirmed infection | Delta | Omicron | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | Delta | ||
| ≥ 14 days: 81 (51–93)1 14–149 days: 87 (49–97)1 ≥ 150 days: 60 (-35–88) 1 |
≥ 14 days: 59 (24–78)1 14–149 days: 59 (22–79) 1 ≥ 150 days: 62 (-28–89) 1 |
1–4 weeks: 91 (33–99)7 13–17 weeks: 83 (34–95)7 |
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| ED/UC visits | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | Delta | Omicron | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | ||
| 14–149 days: 85 (81–89)2 ≥ 150 days: 77 (67–84) 2 |
14–149 days: 34 (8–53) 2 ≥ 150 days: -3 (-30–18) 2 |
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| Hospitalization | Not reported in studies meeting this website’s inclusion criteria- please refer to Methodology | Delta or Omicron | Delta | Omicron | ||
| 14–149 days: 94 (87–97)2 ≥ 150 days: 88 (72–95)2 |
≥ 14 days: 92 (89–95) 3 23–44 weeks: 92 (80–97)3 |
≥ 14 days: 40 (9–60)3 23–44 weeks: 38 (-3–62)3 |
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In general, lower VE rates were observed against the Omicron variant, when compared to Delta; in age groups of 5–11 years2, when compared to 12–18 years5-9 and with longer time past receipt of last dose of vaccine.1-3, 7 Estimated VE increased after a 3rd dose (1st booster).2, 9
References: (1) Fowlkes, (2) Klein, (3) Price, (4) Cohen-Stavi, (5) Olson, (6) Lutrick, (7) Oliveira, (8) Reis, (9) Fleming-Dutra, (10) Husin, (11) Sacco, (12) Tan NEJM 2022
