US: 100 out of 8.7 million kids aged 5-11 report systemic reaction to Pfizer COVID vaccine

Amid the Omicron spike in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Thursday that the Pfizer COVID vaccination for children aged 5 to 11 has proven to be as safe as predicted, however, 100 "serious" incidents have been recorded in the first 8.7 million doses.

To analyse the safety of COVID vaccines for kids between the age group of 5-11 years, US CDC has examined adverse systemic reactions of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination receipt and reported it to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a passive vaccine safety surveillance program co-managed by CDC and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

According to the CDC report, after receiving the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine, nearly 34.7% of the 42,504 youngsters reported a "systemic reaction", most often pain in the injection site, lethargy or headache. Almost 29,899 of the same children with second-dose data exhibited comparable systemic responses, with 40.9% having similar symptoms. Fever was observed more frequently after the second dosage than the first. 

Systemic reactions in 5-11 years kids after Pfizer COVID Vaccine

Further, nearly 5.1% of parents stated that their kid was unable to do regular daily activities the day after receiving the first dose, while, 7.4% indicated that their kid was unable to conduct usual activities the day after receiving the second dose. As per the CDC report, 1% of parents sought medical attention in the week following vaccination.

It is also worth noting that the fourteen youngsters were reportedly treated at a hospital in which hospitalisations details were given for 5 kids. Among the 5 children, two were admitted for appendicitis, one for vomiting and dehydration, one for respiratory infection, whereas one for retropharyngeal cellulitis.

In spite of this, CDC has stated in the report, "Parents and guardians of children aged 5–11 years should be advised that local and systemic reactions are expected after vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech COVID Vaccine and are more common after the second dose."

US kids COVID hospitalisation

In early November, the government authorised the COVID vaccination for children, making around 28 million individuals qualified for the dose. Although uptake has been limited so far in this, there is currently a push to have young children vaccinated, especially in light of the recent surge in pediatric hospitalizations.

Further, CDC has even stated that during the week of December 21 to 27, an average of 334 youngstars aged 17 and younger were hospitalised with coronavirus illness, a 58% increase over the previous week. 

Meanwhile, the highly mutated Omicron has accounted for 59% of new cases last week, CDC informed. According to Worldometers, more than 55,226,252 Americans have been affected by the disease in the nation since the outbreak, and over 845,712 people have died due to Coronavirus. 

(Image: AP/ Shutterstock)