The COVID-19 vaccine is unlikely to cause the rare inflammation associated with coronavirus infection in children, according to an analysis of US government data released on Tuesday.
Condition, officially known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, which involves fever plus symptoms that affect at least two organs and often include stomach pain, a skin rash, or bloodshot eyes. This is a rare complication in children with COVID-19 and very rarely affects adults. This condition often leads to hospitalization, but most patients recover.
First reported in the United Kingdom in early 2020, it is sometimes confused with Kawasaki disease, which can cause swelling and heart problems. As of February 2020, more than 6,800 cases have been reported in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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As part of COVID-19 vaccine safety surveillance, the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have added this condition to a list of several potential side effects of particular concern. The few reported cases in people with no detectable evidence of coronavirus infection prompted researchers at the CDC and elsewhere to do so. analysispublished Tuesday in Lancet Children & Adolescent Health.
Co-author Dr Buddy Creech, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, who is leading a study of Moderna shots in children.
“We don’t know the exact contribution of vaccines to these diseases,” Creech said. “Vaccine alone in the absence of prior infection does not appear to be a significant trigger. ”
Read more: Why you should immunize your children against COVID-19
The analysis involved surveillance data for the first nine months of COVID-19 vaccination in the United States, December 2020 through August 2021. During that time, the FDA authorized COVID-19 shots. by Pfizer for ages 16 and up; expanded in May for ages 12 to 15; and Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are authorized to shoot for ages 18 and up.
More than 21 million people 12 to 20 years old have received at least one dose of the vaccine during that time. 21 of them later developed inflammation. Analysis shows that all of them have received photos from Pfizer. Fifteen out of 21 people had laboratory evidence of prior COVID-19 infection that could have caused the condition.
The remaining six had no evidence of prior infection, but the researchers said they could not definitively conclude that they had never had COVID-19 or some other infection that can lead to the condition. inflammation. Children with COVID-19 often have no symptoms, and many are never tested.
Results showed possible post-vaccination inflammation in 1 in 1 million children infected with COVID-19 and in one in three million children with no detectable evidence of prior COVID-19 infection.
Most children with COVID-19 do not develop post-infection disease, but it is estimated to occur at a significantly higher rate than both figures post-vaccination. In April-June 2020, the rate was 200 cases per million unvaccinated infected people in the US 12-20 years old.
Dr Mary Beth Son of Boston Children’s Hospital wrote in a commentary accompanying the study: “Their findings are generally quite reliable.
Dr Adam Ratner, a pediatric scientist at New York University Langone Health, said the results represent a “super rare” chance for shots that stimulate an immune response that can lead to inflammation. In contrast, there is strong evidence that Immunization protects children from COVID-19 infection as well as conditions, Ratner said.
