THE ESSENTIAL
- In France, 2% of children aged 0 to 11 are vaccinated against Covid-19.
- This percentage is 81% among 12-17 year olds and 95.1% among 18-24 year olds.
Several cases of Pims, pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, have been recorded in children and adolescents after injection of the Pfizer vaccine. Yet, according to a study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, there is no element to scientifically confirm a link between the administration of these doses and the development of this syndrome, which is characterized by dysfunctions of several organs and fever (i.e. more than 38 degrees for several days). As a reminder, this disease only affects children and adolescents and, even if their life is generally not at stake, the contraction of Pims often leads to hospitalization.
Cases of Pims in vaccinated patients who have never contracted Covid-19
In most cases, pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome develops after Covid-19 infection because SARS-CoV-2 antibodies are found in the analyzes of young patients. But cases with vaccinated children who had never been infected with the virus have also been reported.
To better understand the link between vaccination and Pims, researchers at the Center for Diseases Control (CDC) analyzed 21 cases of vaccinated teenagers who had it. The young participants were between 12 and 20 years old and were hospitalized to treat this pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome. Among the 21 young people, 12 were treated in intensive care.
“The contribution of vaccination to this disease is unknown”
According to the researchers’ results, only six of them had never been infected with Covid-19. In the analyzes of all the others, traces of earlier infections, more or less recent, were visible. By relating their findings to the 20 million young people of the same age vaccinated in the United States, children who have never had Covid-19 and who have developed Pims represent 0.3 cases per million. In young people who are not vaccinated at all, this ratio is 200 cases per million.
The CDC scientists therefore concluded that there was insufficient scientific evidence to establish a link between vaccination and the development of Pims in children and adolescents. “The contribution of vaccination to this disease is unknown”, the authors said. They added that cases of Pims were very low in vaccinated young people and much higher in unvaccinated children. A result which seems to indicate that vaccination protects against Covid-19 and its collateral effects.