To protect a child from coronavirus, all adults around him need to be vaccinated – to create a so-called vaccination cocoon. This cannot be 100% guaranteed that children will not get infected, but the risk will be significantly reduced.
This is stated in new research conducted in Israel. They showed that vaccinating all adults in the same family reduces the transmission of COVID-19. The work was published in the journal Science.
One study looked at the period from January to March 2021, when the Alpha variant of the coronavirus was prevalent, and from July to September 2021, when the Delta variant was prevalent in Israel. In the first period, children in Israel have not yet been vaccinated against the virus. By the second period, only children over the age of 12 were allowed to be vaccinated.
The researchers found that children who lived in a family with one vaccinated person had a 26% lower risk of contracting COVID-19 at the beginning of 2021. Vaccination of one of the Batks still protected against Delta, but the rate dropped to 20.8%.
If a child lived in a home where both parents were vaccinated, their risk of contracting COVID-19 was significantly reduced. With the spread of Alpha in children with two vaccinated parents, the risk was reduced by 71.7%and Delta by 58.1%.
“Vaccination of parents provides significant protection for unvaccinated children in the family,” the researchers stressed.
In another study, the researchers took into account data on families where parents were vaccinated with Pfizer before and after the spread of the Delta.
As a result, the overall vaccine efficacy prior to the advent of Delta was nearly 92% within 10-90 days after vaccination and 61% more than three months after the second dose.
With the spread of Delta, Pfizer’s efficacy dropped to 65% within 10-90 days and to 24% more than three months after the second dose.
However, the decrease in efficacy did not have a significant impact on children’s outcomes. When the researchers looked at the risks to juveniles in these families, they found greater risk reduction for children who have been vaccinated by infected family members, regardless of which strain of COVID-19 was circulating.
“Adults have always been the main carriers of this virus, so we have always been obliged to vaccinate, wear masks and be careful. We are the ones who provoke these outbreaks in the first place. We are the ones who can ensure the safety of our children,” the scientists noted.
As GLOBAL HAPPENINGS wrote, the Ukrainian government is considering the possibility of paying cash assistance under the program to support adolescents from the age of 12 who received two doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
Source: Obozrevatel
I’m a journalist who covers health care news. I’ve been working in the news industry for more than 6 years. I have experience writing for print, online, and television. My work has been published by various news websites and magazines.
