CDC study: COVID-19 vaccine rarely caused serious problems in kids aged 5 to 11

COVID-19 vaccination rarely resulted in adverse side effects in children ages 5-11, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

In October, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the Pfizer vaccine emergency use authorization for children in that age group. 

The CDC study looked at data collected through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a “voluntary smartphone-based safety surveillance system” co-managed by the FDA through which adverse events from vaccination were recorded. The agency noted that the voluntary nature of the VAERS system leaves the data subject to reporting bias and underreporting.

The data was collected from Nov. 3 to Dec. 19, during which about 8.7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered to children in the recently approved age range. 

In this time period, 4,249 adverse events following vaccination were recorded, and of those, 97.6 percent were not considered to be serious. 

According to the CDC, 42,504 children aged 5-11 were enrolled in the vaccine surveillance program after receiving the Pfizer vaccine. Around 58 percent experienced localized reactions to the shot and roughly 41 percent experienced systemic reactions such as fatigue or headaches.

One serious potential side effect of the COVID-19 vaccines is myocarditis, a rare inflammation of the heart muscle.

In the CDC’s study, 11 verified reports of myocarditis were received through VAERS.

During the same time period, two deaths were reported following vaccination in two female patients aged 5 and 6 years old.

They were both described as having “complicated medical histories” and “fragile health” before getting immunized, and the data collected so far does not suggest that vaccinations caused their deaths.