Pediatric vaccination reduces long COVID during omicron
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Up to 3% of children with a SARS-CoV-2 infection may develop long COVID.
- COVID-19 vaccination is associated with a reduced likelihood of post-COVID conditions.
COVID-19 vaccination was associated with a reduced likelihood of long COVID among children infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the omicron wave, according to study findings presented at IDWeek.
The study evaluated vaccinated and unvaccinated children aged 5 to 17 years for ongoing symptoms lasting at least 1 month after their infection with the omicron variant.
“A recent systematic review estimated that 1% to 3% of children could have one or more post-COVID conditions after a COVID-19 illness,” Anna R. Yousaf, MD, a medical officer at the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told Healio.
“Over 65 million children in the U.S. have had a SARS-CoV-2 infection, meaning there is the potential for thousands of children in the U.S. to have” one of these conditions, Yousaf said. “There are also very few data on associations between COVID-19 vaccination and post-COVID conditions in children.”
Yousaf and colleagues enrolled children in the Pediatric Research Observing Trends and Exposures in COVID-19 Timelines (PROTECT) study and followed them for up to a year and a half.
They collected weekly nasal swabs from participants, who were surveyed about their health, including their history of COVID-19 vaccination and illness and any underlying medical conditions.
“Any child [who] had a positive SARS-CoV-2 screening test during the study was sent a survey on post-COVID conditions to be completed 60 days or more after their positive test,” Yousaf said. “This survey asked about any new or ongoing symptoms lasting more than 1 month from the child’s positive SARS-CoV-2 test. If a child or caregiver reported a symptom, we asked how long the child had been experiencing that symptom.”
Based on the results, the researchers calculated the odds of long COVID symptoms among vaccinated and unvaccinated participants. They defined being vaccinated as receiving at least a two-dose primary messenger RNA vaccine series 14 days or more prior to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Among 622 participants, 67% were vaccinated and 5% reported a long COVID symptom for at least 1 month.
Vaccination was associated with a 34% decreased likelihood of one or more long COVID symptoms (adjusted OR [aOR] = 0.66; 95% CI, 0.43-0.99), a 48% reduced likelihood of two or more symptoms (aOR = 0.52; 95% CI, 0.32-0.83) and a 47% reduced likelihood of respiratory long COVID symptoms (aOR = 0.53, 95% CI 0.33-0.87), the researchers reported.
Non-Hispanic Black children were more likely to report a long COVID symptom and were also less likely to be vaccinated.
Yousaf said it might be worthwhile to recreate the study with a larger sample size and include children who have received COVID-19 booster doses.
“This study cohort was also predominantly [composed of] non-Hispanic white children, so getting a more representative study population would be desirable,” Yousaf said.
“Even though our sample size was small, some of the characteristics in our different groups reflected national trends seen in other COVID-19 data: Non-Hispanic Black children were more likely to have post-COVID conditions and were also less likely to be vaccinated,” she said. “These results highlight health inequities that have already been demonstrated through other COVID-19 studies in the U.S. and encourages us to work on increased vaccine uptake among minority groups.”
Collapse
Yousaf A, et al. Abstract 1935. Presented at: IDWeek; Oct. 11-15, 2023; Boston.
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts