More on Omicron Infections in Children

To the Editor: Lin and colleagues (Sept. 22 issue)(1) report on the protection against hospitalization related to the B.1.1.529 (omicron) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in children 5 to 11 years of age who had received the BNT162b2 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) and had had previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study involved a small number of hospitalized children and included wide confidence intervals. At 4 weeks since the first dose, vaccine effectiveness against omicron infection was similar among children with no history of SARS-CoV-2 infection (63.2%) and previously infected children (69.6%), and this effectiveness decreased to 15.5% and 22.4%, . . .

Automated summary

This study examines the hospitalization protection against the B.1.1.529 (omicron) variant of SARS-CoV-2 in children aged 5 to 11 who received the BNT162b2 vaccine and had previous infection. The study includes a small number of hospitalized children and wide confidence intervals. Four weeks after the first dose, vaccine effectiveness against omicron infection was similar between children with and without previous infection, but decreased over time.