Written by by by Wendy Peterson, CNN
A newly-developed vaccine dubbed “The Viagra of children’s vaccines” could stave off pneumococcal disease or typhoid fever for as long as four years, according to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
But the study, published Monday in the journal PLOS Medicine, found that the vaccine, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, might not entirely immunize infants in developing countries against the new strain of pneumococcal disease, or enterovirus 69.
“Our results suggest that PFECR19-based vaccines may offer protection for four years of age in children whose families already may have limited access to medicines and vaccines,” said Dr. Neil Brown, director of the Vaccine Research Center at the NIH.
“It is important to remember that it is one vaccine, not one shot.”
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which combines the antiviral drug simvastatin with the bacterial vaccine COVID-19, was tested in children aged 2 months to 9 years at the NIH’s Vaccine Research Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
The study examined whether pneumococcal disease or typhoid fever caused infants in developing countries to develop severe or fatal illness after receiving the vaccine.
In overall children in the study, 91% of infants did not develop any type of serious adverse event, and 49% did not develop either illness after one dose of COVID-19 or four doses of COVID-19 plus a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, the study found.
Of 36,000 children who received the vaccine, 13% of the 2-month-olds developed enterovirus 69 disease or severe pneumococcal disease in the months following vaccination.
Still, children who were vaccinated against pneumococcal disease had a 50% higher risk of developing enterovirus 69 disease. But in children who were vaccinated against both diseases, the vaccine appears to have little impact on rates of both illnesses.
“We were surprised by the high risk for severe disease seen in 1- and 2-month-olds,” said Dr. Paul Novack, who led the study. “The association was not statistically significant for older children and adolescents, and so it highlights the need for such study to determine how COVID-19-based vaccines will impact vaccine efficacy in these vulnerable populations.”
COVID-19 was donated to the NIH by BioNTech, Pfizer’s partner on the study.
“If the findings of the current study are confirmed, this may increase the value of COVID-19 in developing countries,” Novack said.