(The Defender) More than 1,600 children aged 5 to 11 experienced a systemic reaction such as fever or diarrhea after receiving one of the new COVID-19 vaccines, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Of 3,259 children in the age group who received an updated Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and were registered in the v-safe system, nearly half experienced a systemic reaction, CDC researchers found.
Systemic reactions, defined as “usually mild” and lasting for multiple days, include fatigue, chills, nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, joint pain and diarrhea. On a severity scale, the category of reactions is between local reactions and severe reactions.
According to responses to v-safe, a smartphone survey system started by the CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic to monitor vaccine safety, 48.9%, or 1,594 children, in the 5 to 11 population who got a new booster between Oct. 12, 2022, and Jan. 1, experienced one or more systemic reactions.
The most common was fatigue, followed by headache, fever, myalgia — muscle pain — and chills. The least common was rash.
Sixty-four of the children sought medical care but none were hospitalized, according to the CDC, which published the study in its quasi-journal on Jan. 13.
Most reports of needing medical care indicated that the case was not related to vaccination, according to the CDC.
Seven hundred and two children experienced a health impact, such as being unable to attend school or being unable to perform “normal daily activities.”
Researchers also reported the number of reported adverse events among the population to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), another safety monitoring system.
Between Oct. 12, 2022, and Nov. 20, 2022, there were 920 reports that were processed by CDC researchers, most of which were for vaccination errors such as an incorrect dosage administered. Some, including 21 for fever, were for systemic events.
The reports do not prove causality with a vaccine but are an undercount of the true number of post-vaccination events, according to studies and U.S. health officials.
Two of the reports, both after Pfizer vaccination, were for serious events, including a child who developed symptoms of a rare illness called Miller Fisher syndrome.
There were no reports of death in either system.
