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COVID-19 vaccines are about 35% effective in preventing long COVID in children for a year, according to a new study.
“This study provides us with important data showing the protective effects of the vaccine against long-haul COVID and suggests that this protection is mostly from preventing visible infections,” senior study author Charles Bailey, M.D., Ph.D, an academic investigator in clinical informatics at Children’s Hospital Philadelphia, said in a press release. “We hope this means that as vaccines are improved to be more effective against current strains of SARS-CoV-2, their protection against long COVID will get better, too.”
Experts are still trying to understand post-COVID conditions, also known as long COVID. People with long COVID may experience brain fog, shortness of breath, gastrointestinal issues, generalized pain or fatigue. The study, “Vaccine Effectiveness Against Long COVID in Children” (Razzaghi H, et al. Pediatrics. Jan. 16, 2024), was part of the National Institutes of Health’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery initiative.
Researchers analyzed electronic health record data on more than 1 million children ages 5-17 years to determine how effective COVID vaccines are preventing long COVID. Just over half had received at least one vaccine dose.
Long COVID was classified as “diagnosed” if the child had two or more health care visits with diagnosis codes for long COVID. Cases were “probable” if they only had one diagnosis code, or they had two diagnoses similar to long COVID within 6 months after a COVID infection.
About 4.5% of the cohort had probable long COVID while just under 1% had a long COVID diagnosis.
The team calculated adjusted vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 35.4% against probable or diagnosed long COVID within 12 months. Vaccine effectiveness against diagnosed long COVID was 41.7%.
Adolescents had a higher vaccine effectiveness against probable or diagnosed long COVID (50.3%) compared to children ages 5-11 years (23.8%). The adolescents were studied during both the delta and omicron era while data on younger child is only from omicron period.
Data also showed effectiveness to be higher at 6 months (61.4%) than at 12 months (35.4%) or 18 months (10.6%) post vaccine.
“Evaluations of VE over time are needed to address whether these waning effects can be overcome through booster or annual vaccine doses,” authors wrote.
A mediation analysis found the protection vaccines provide against long COVID is largely tied to preventing children from getting a COVID infection.
“These retrospective data provide guidance for additional research into the ways long COVID develops, and how we can better protect children and adolescents,” Dr. Bailey said.
The AAP and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend everyone 6 months and older get vaccinated. However, just 8% of children and 21.4% of adults have received the updated 2023-’24 vaccine, according to the CDC.
COVID hospitalizations rose 3.2% and deaths rose 14.3% during the week ending Jan. 6, 2024, compared to the previous week, according to CDC data. Wastewater testing also has found increasing viral activity.
The current vaccines, tests and treatments work against JN.1, which has become the most widely circulating COVID variant, according to the CDC. There is no evidence it causes more severe disease than other circulating variants.
Resources
- CDC webinar “Evaluating and Supporting Children and Adolescents Presenting with Post-COVID Conditions”
- American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation guidance on diagnosis and treatment of long COVID in children and adolescents
- Information from the AAP on COVID-19 vaccines, including a dosing guide and information on payment
- AAP News story “Battling long COVID: Pediatricians talk strategies, prevention measures for children with lingering symptoms”
- CDC interim clinical guidance on COVID-19 vaccines
- COVID-19 vaccine checklist for children from HealthyChildren.org