Kids’ Risk of Severe Reaction to Pfizer Shot 4 Times Greater Than Risk of Needing Oxygen Therapy, Singapore Data Show
A New England Journal of Medicine study involving more than a quarter million children ages 5 to 11 raises serious questions about the risk-benefit analysis for vaccinating young children, according to John Campbell, Ph.D., who reviewed the study in a recent video.
The number of serious adverse reactions to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was more than four times greater than the number of children needing oxygen therapy to recover from the virus, according to a
study involving more than a quarter million children ages 5 to 11.
The data raise questions about the
risk-benefit analysis for the vaccination against COVID-19 in
children ages 5 to 11, according to
John Campbell, Ph.D., a nurse teacher from the U.K. who reviewed the study in his latest
video.
“Let’s hope the policymakers are completely up-to-date with this data,” said Campbell, who is described by
German and
British media as an expert on vaccine administration.
The study, based on data collected in Singapore from Jan. 21 through April 8, when the Omicron variant was spreading rapidly, included 22 cases of serious adverse reactions to the
Pfizer vaccine in children ages 5 to 11 and only five cases of children needing oxygen therapy.
All but one of the children who required oxygen therapy were fully or partially vaccinated, suggesting the vaccine offers no protection against needing oxygen therapy, Campbell said.
“Among hospitalized children,” the study authors said, “only five received supplemental oxygen, four of whom were admitted to the intensive care unit. Of these five children, one was unvaccinated, two were partially vaccinated, and two were fully vaccinated.”
They added:
“No deaths attributable to
COVID-19 (as determined by the cause of death reported to the Ministry of Health) were observed during the study period.”