Pfizer vaccine 100% effective in trial with 75 kids participating through Upstate Hospital

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Pfizer Inc. said its COVID-19 vaccine was 100% effective in a final-stage trial in kids ages 12 to 15, a finding that could pave the way for teens and pre-teens to get shots before the next school year.

The results of this study are based on a trial with a vaccine test on 2,260 children ages 12 to 15, including 75 children from Central New York who received the vaccine at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital.

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Dr. Joseph Domachowske, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Upstate, oversaw the vaccine trials and says he expects Pfizer will now submit an emergency use authorization to the FDA that will bring down the age for community administration to 12 years old.

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“Going forward it is going to become even more important to get the safety and efficiency information for the younger groups, especially at schools that are reopening," Domachowske says. "We want to try and reduce the community spread of the infection by protecting as many people in the community as possible."

Dr. Domachowske says not only did the study find the vaccine was 100% effective, but also caused minimal side effects in subjects that did not last long at all. Of the 2,260 kids participating, the doctor explained that roughly half received a placebo, while the other half were vaccinated - no one in the latter group was infected, while the group receiving placebo reported about 18 infections of COVID-19 over the course of the three-month trial. He explained that the efficacy rating will likely drop slightly once it is introduced to a wider population without the same control variables as the trial - but the main takeaway is the data is very encouraging that this vaccine will provide protection for younger age groups safely.

"It's fantastic. It tells us so many things that we were hoping and I think reasonably expecting.," said Dr. Domachowske.

It will take time for the vaccine to be approved and then become widely available to this younger age group - Dr. Robert Dracker of Summerwood Pediatrics says it could take months.

"It's very encouraging to see that vaccines are going to be available to children we don't really know when," said Dr. Dracker, "I think everyone's hopeful that they'll be available by the start of the school year which means hopefully the school environment will go back to some semblance of normalcy."

Most of the parents at his practice are eager about the prospect of the COVID-19 vaccine becoming available for younger kids, according to Dr. Dracker. He notes most of the parents at Summerwood Pediatrics are already very vaccine compliant when it comes to non-COVID vaccines. As for those that may be hesitant, he said he is hoping the more data that becomes available will help address any concerns.

"It is something new, parents are always protective of their children," said Dr. Dracker, "given time and given continued communication with them, and continuing to get data and the safety information we have as... children receive it, I think parents will come around and be agreeable to it."

Vaccines becoming available to younger age brackets may become critical to avoiding another surge in the next few months. COVID-19 cases are starting to climb at a national level, with most cases appearing in younger populations, according to experts.

"It's been mostly in young adults and teenagers. That's always been a concern, once you take care of the adult population that you then see the virus emerging in a younger population. I'm hopeful that after this week of vacation where people are traveling because people are tired of being cooped up in a house and children go back to school, many of them full time, that we don't see this resurgence because we're still months away from vaccine being available for all children," said Dr. Dracker.

The vaccine is also expected to provide critical protection for children, who are vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. While experts say most children do not exhibit symptoms, they can easily spread COVID-19 to others who may be more susceptible. The vaccine can also help to prevent children from suffering from a rare condition brought on by COVID-19 called MIS-C or Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome.

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"If we prevent the infection from happening in the first place we'll see a reduction also in this post-infection inflammatory condition that we don't completely understand yet," said Dr. Domachowske.