Researchers from Argentina’s health authorities have demonstrated that the COVID-19 vaccine provides meaningful protection for children and teenagers against death, regardless of the dominant viral variant at the time. The evidence comes from a study published in BMJ.
The investigation compared the performance of two mRNA vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, alongside the inactivated Sinopharm vaccine, focusing on their ability to shield against infection and fatal outcomes. The analysis drew on health data from 844,460 youths aged 3 to 17 years in Argentina.
During the delta wave, vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 infection was estimated at 61 percent for children and 67 percent for adolescents. In the Omicron period, these figures dropped to 16 percent for children and 26 percent for adolescents.
Even as protection against infection wanes with new variants, the vaccines continued to offer strong protection against death. Notably, during the Omicron era, death prevention stood at 67 percent for children and an impressive 98 percent for adolescents.
Prior knowledge had established that mRNA and inactivated COVID-19 vaccines reduce the risk of severe illness in young people, but data specifically addressing protection against death were scarce. This study helps fill that gap by presenting real-world effectiveness across age groups and variant contexts.
These results reinforce the importance of pediatric vaccination as a tool to reduce mortality from COVID-19. They also highlight that while the chance of infection may fluctuate with circulating strains, the vaccines provide critical protection when it matters most—securing lives for both children and teenagers. The Argentine experience adds a valuable data point to the global understanding of how vaccines perform in younger populations and across evolving viral landscapes. Researchers emphasize ongoing surveillance to monitor effectiveness as new variants emerge and vaccination strategies adapt to changing epidemiology. In the broader picture, the findings support public health recommendations that advocate vaccination for eligible children and adolescents as part of a comprehensive approach to reducing COVID-19–related deaths, alongside other preventive measures and timely booster considerations where advised.