Pfizer’s data on vaccine efficacy in children
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)01185-0/fulltext
I will never tell people what medical decisions to make. Those are for you to decide. Those of us in healthcare should honor whatever decision you make for you. We may not agree with the decision, but it is our job to educate, provide information, and for you the patient to ultimately make the decision that is best for you. Collaborative patient care where we work TOGETHER has served me well for 14 years. It is a rare moment when I have had to override a patient in their decision, but a floridly psychotic patient having severe delusions/hallucinations cannot protect themselves, someone who is suicidal or homicidal with a plan or intent…… I have to intervene despite their verbalization of refusal of care. There are always exceptions……but as the norm, I want to help you, I want you to make decisions, I want you to work with me to make your health better. We will land on a treatment plan that you are comfortable with. Too many healthcare providers forget that patients are autonomous beings. They do not belong to us, or our hospital or practice. They chose US to care for them. And in that therapeutic alliance between ourselves and a patient, we commit to doing no intentional harm, to promote health, wellness, and encourage healthy decisions. We commit to THEM that we are going to do our best, to be up to date on research and treatment, and to honestly do our very best to care for them. Sadly, healthcare has lost their way during covid. No, that isn’t true, we lost our way long before covid. But covid took the smoldering dumpster fire and made it a full blown healthcare inferno. Patients look to us to help them, not sell them down the river. The decision by the CDC/FDA to give babies and kids under age 5 the EUA for a covid vaccine is, in my professional opinion after reading the data, irresponsible and dangerous. And probably deadly for more than we want to admit.
This is where I have drawn a line in the sand. I cannot stop you from covid vaccinating your child, but damn it, I am going to be sure I do give you the education that these vaccines did not perform well in clinical trial, there were many adverse events in the under age 5 group, and hope and pray you decide to not vaccinate your little one. Kids don’t have a choice, their parents have to make the decision. But I have vaccine injured teenagers, young adults, and middle aged adults in my office and they made the choice on their own to vaccinate. I cannot imagine how I would feel, as a parent, if my kiddo had an adverse event from the decision I made to vaccinate them. And for the record, no, the 18 year old in my home is not vaccinated. It was a collaborative decision made by his parents WITH HIM, as he was 17 when the vaccines came out, so we sat him down and he was given the pro/cons and he made the ultimate decision. He chose for himself (much to my and his fathers relief) to not get vaccinated. But the little kids. They do not get to decide. You cannot give them the information we gave our teenager. They cannot make a sound medical decision for themselves. We as their parents have to decide what is best. When the FDA approved the 6mo-5yr old vaccine for EUA in June, in a UNANIMOUS vote of 21-0 I might add, they had zero clinical evidence to justify doing so. Please see my June 15th, 2022 post for the trial data and why it is absolutely baffling that the EUA was given to this age group.
Prior to that decision, The Lancet published an article in April 2022 about the age 5-11 group and covid vaccine efficacy. This study was done on children in Italy, from January-April 2022, who received the covid vaccine with no prior covid infection before vaccination. This study was done while Omicron was the dominant variant du jour. Per the study, 1,063,035 kids age 5-11 had been double vaccinated for covid, while 1 ,768, 497 were unvaccinated.
The justification for VACCINATING this age group was this: preventing severe and persistent COVID-19; preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection, which could lead to social, psychological, and physical benefits by reducing school absenteeism and allowing a higher degree of social interaction between children; and a benefit to the general population by reducing SARS-CoV-2 onward transmission to other age groups. So. Recap this. We decided to vaccinate age 5-11 to reduce their absent from school days, to prevent severe infection, and to prevent them giving covid to adults. That is what this is really saying. Because NO DATA showed that kids have severe persistent illness from covid. (See the trial data from June 15th post).
Moving on.
The results of this trial: Our estimates of vaccine effectiveness against infection and against severe COVID-19 in 5–11-year-olds were significantly lower than estimates in older age groups. Vaccine effectiveness in the fully vaccinated group was 29·4%. Vaccine effectiveness against infection peaked at 38·7% at 0–14 days after full vaccination and decreased to 21·2% 43–84 days after full vaccination.
SAY WHAT?!?!?!? Vaccine efficacy was at BEST 38% 0-14 days after vaccinating?! And 20% roughly 6 weeks and forward after vaccination? That, my friends, is not a vaccine. If someone told you there was a 30% chance of rain from 9-3 and a 20% chance of rain from 4pm-midnight, would you change your outdoor plans to walk your dog or go for a bike ride? Probably not. Per the EUA, a trial approved for EUA MUST MEET A 50% EFFICACY BENCHMARK. You will see here in this Italian data, as well as my June 15th post from Pfizer directly, that THESE AGE GROUPS DO NOT MEET THE BENCHMARK TO HAVE EUA GIVEN!!!! The unknown risks. Experimental technology. We have already seen “a host of adults with horrible health issues and death post covid vaccine”, why on this earth would you give this to a baby!!!!! They are the innocent here. These are little ones who have not even taken their first steps yet. Others who have not even had a first day of school yet. The clinical data does not support this.
I implore anyone who has little ones……please please please research and think long and hard before you have the covid vaccine given to your small children. There is no clear data to show that the benefits come anywhere close to mitigating the risks involved here. Please re-read my June 15th post. And this one. The data is NOT THERE to support this decision to vaccinate our youngest and most vulnerable. The ones who do not have a voice. As their parents and providers, we MUST do right by them.