Teenagers who are vaccinated against coronavirus are 90% more protected from infection than their unvaccinated counterparts, a new joint study by Clalit Research Institute and Harvard University published on Wednesday found.
The study was carried out during Israel's fourth wave of coronavirus infections between June 8 and September 14. Researchers compared data from 94,354 Israeli teens aged 12–18 who were inoculated against the pathogen and data from the same number of unvaccinated teens, although about 14,000 participants from the second group were vaccinated during the study. Israel almost solely uses the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
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Israeli teenager receives a dose of a coronavirus vaccine at a pop-up vaccination clinic in Haifa, July 10, 2021
(Photo: Ido Erez)
The study also found that vaccinated teens are 93% less likely to develop symptomatic illness. The study did not feature data regarding the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing hospitalizations.
Founding Director of the Clalit Research Institute, and head of the government's advisory panel on the pandemic, Prof. Ran Balicer said that the results of the study "unequivocally show that the vaccine is most effective in preventing infection from the Delta variant and in preventing symptomatic disease one week after receiving two doses."
He further said that the findings show that vaccine protection against the Delta variant is similar to that observed in young adults against the Alpha strain in the past and should provide important information for parents who are reluctant to get their teenage children vaccinated.
Also on Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a similar study whose findings indicated the vaccine was similarly efficacious among the same age group in the United States. This study also addresses the effectiveness of Pfizer vaccines in preventing hospitalizations, which stood at 93%.
Israeli health officials are hoping that these data will increase turnout among teenagers and encourage them to get vaccinated, as many chose to not do so.
According to Health Ministry Data, 32% of 12- to 15-year-olds and 13% of 16- to 18-year-olds have not yet been vaccinated against coronavirus.