“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.”
-Carl sagan
Anything worthwhile takes time.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the world sought an effective means to combat the rapidly spreading disease. Vaccination, the oldest method of disease prevention, has consistently proven its efficacy over time (Plotkin, 2005) (Delany, 2014). Therefore, developing a vaccine against a life-threatening pathogen like SARS-CoV-2 made the most sense, especially considering that it could be years before an effective drug becomes available (Dranove, 1994).
However, the new COVID-19 vaccine platform was different from the traditional type. Most traditional vaccines are made up of a killed or attenuated pathogen. Sometimes, a piece of the pathogen is combined with an adjuvant to trigger an immune response inside a host (Plotkin, 2005).
On the contrary, one of the first COVID-19 vaccine was mRNA based. mRNA vaccines are made of a piece of the pathogen genetic material encapsulated in a lipid particle. These vaccines can also be quickly manufactured by those who have mastered the technology (Granados-Riveron, 2021). Nonetheless, what has been most concerning to some is the fact that this new vaccine, in this specific case, has not gone through extensive testing unlike his traditional counterpart.
Don’t be hasty when it comes to safety.
The new platform demonstrated a high efficacy level, as evidenced by multiple clinical trials conducted worldwide. However, concerns arose as the number of people experiencing adverse effects increased, leading many to question the rapid remedy (Ng, 2021). Initially, only adults were vaccinated to reduce the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations(Polack, 2020). Nevertheless, vaccines for children were swiftly developed, and most recently, for infants and toddlers (Walter, 2022) (Munoz, 2023).
Recently, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) added the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, an mRNA vaccine platform, to the vaccination schedule for children from 2 years to 6 months of age (Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccines for Children Down to 6 Months of Age, 2022). One of the clinical trials leading to the decision showed encouraging results.
During this trial, children were injected intramuscularly with a small vaccine dose, safe for their age. The vaccine conferred protection, against the disease, that lasted for over a month. Vaccinated children underwent an 18-month follow-up to monitor any adverse events or disease progression.
During that time, fewer disease cases were reported in vaccinated children compare to the unvaccinated. Better yet, the neutralizing antibody protection in vaccinated kids remained comparable to that of vaccinated adults in the study timeframe (Munoz, 2023). Based on this result, it is safe to assume that infants’ and toddlers’ protection coverage parallels that of adults.
It is worth noting that children were not equally protected against the ancestral strain SARS-Cov-2 as they were of other substrains like Omicron. Additionally, children previously infected with SARS-Cov-2 were excluded from the study. As a result, there was no comparison between the disease incidence in children vaccinated and those that have been sick before but never vaccinated (Munoz, 2023).
Only Time will tell.
There is no doubt that Pfizer/BioNTech is protective. Still, evidence shows that non-vaccinated adults infected with COVID-19 virus develop neutralizing antibodies lasting up to 8 months. This so-called natural immunity provides the same protection as the vaccine (Dan, 2021).
Undoubtedly, more studies must determine how long neutralizing antibody protection lasts in children between 6 months and 2 years. Still, if protection coverage mirrors that of adults, it is safe to assume that those babies and young children do not necessarily need to get vaccinated. It has only been three years since the vaccine platform came out, and ample research on its long-term effect on people is needed. So, what should parents consider when deciding to vaccinate their infants and toddlers?
References
Plotkin, S. A. (2005). Vaccines: past, present, and future. Nature Medicine.
Delany, I. (2014). Vaccines for the 21st Century. Embo Molecular Medicine.
Dranove, D. (1994). Do important drugs reach the market sooner? RAND Journal of Economics.
Polack, F. P. (2020). The New England Journal of Medicine.
Walter, E. (2022). Evaluation of the BNT162b2 Covid-19. The New England Journal of Medicine.
Proudly powered by WordPress
Leave a Reply