‘Bombshell’ CDC Study: Kids Who Got Pfizer Vaccine More Likely Than Unvaccinated to Get COVID Infection

Children under 5 who received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines were more likely to become infected with COVID-19 than unvaccinated children who had natural immunity.

by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.

Children under 5 who received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines were more likely to become infected with COVID-19 than unvaccinated children who had natural immunity, according to data in a “bombshell” peer-reviewed study by Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) scientists.

However, the authors of the study, published earlier this month in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, didn’t highlight that finding in their conclusion. Instead, they wrote:

“Participants with evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection were less likely to be infected with SARS-CoV-2 and experience symptomatic COVID-19 compared with those who had no evidence of prior infection …

“Although there was no difference in risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and symptomatic COVID-19 among children aged 6 months-4 years by vaccination status, prior infection with SARS-CoV-2 was associated with lower incidence of both.”

The authors recommended COVID-19 vaccination “to reduce severe illness,” but conceded the “overall risk of infection may not differ substantially between vaccinated and unvaccinated” children under 5.

Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D., a former professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, told The Defender, “The study shows, as expected, that after COVID infection, there is strong natural immunity lasting for at least a year.”

Immunologist and cardiothoracic surgeon Hooman Noorchashm, M.D., Ph.D., founder of the American Patient Defense Union, said the study “definitively proves” that natural immunity “is more effective than vaccine immunity” and that COVID-19 shots are unnecessary for children.

“Given the low morbidity and mortality risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the pediatric population and given the reality of vaccine-associated adverse events, there is no reasonable rationale for mandated — or even recommended — COVID-19 vaccination in the pediatric population,” Noorchashm said.

Vaccinated kids ‘191% more likely to be diagnosed with a symptomatic COVID’

Nicolas Hulscher, an epidemiologist at the McCullough Foundation, said the study shows the vaccines “do the opposite of what they’re supposed to do. Instead of protecting against COVID-19, these genetic injections either fail or increase the risk of infection.”

That’s because one of the study’s key findings — revealed in an accompanying table but not highlighted by the authors — is that children who received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine were more likely than unvaccinated children to develop symptomatic COVID-19 infection, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.91 and a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.12-7.53.

The hazard ratio is a measure of how frequently an event occurs in one group compared to another group over the same period. A hazard ratio of 1 indicates no difference between the two groups, a ratio below 1 indicates a lower risk compared to the other group being studied and a ratio over 1 indicates a higher risk.

Confidence interval refers to the estimated range of an unknown population parameter that is being studied. For instance, a CI of 95% refers to a 95% probability that the parameter being studied falls within that range.

Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., senior research scientist at Children’s Health Defense, told The Defender this “equates to a statistically significant signal where a child 6 months through 4 years old vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech is 191% more likely to be diagnosed with a symptomatic COVID-19.”

Jablonowski said the finding calls into question some of the author’s central claims — that “there was no difference in risk” among vaccinated and unvaccinated children, and that COVID-19 vaccination is still advisable “to reduce severe illness.”

“The statement of ‘no difference in risk’ is a lie of omission,” Jablonowski said. “It is an unignorable trend that the vaccinated children have more symptomatic — thus more severe — infections.”

The study also found:

• Among children with no prior COVID-19 infection — referred to as “naïve participants” — those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine “were more likely to be infected and experience symptomatic COVID-19 compared to naïve and unvaccinated participants.”

  In an analysis posted on Substack, Hulscher said the study results show that vaccinated children with no prior COVID-19 infection “were 159% more likely to get infected and 257% more likely to develop symptomatic COVID-19 compared to unvaccinated children without prior infection.”

• Unvaccinated children who had a prior COVID-19 infection had a significantly lower risk of a new infection (HR 0.28, 95% CI 0.16-0.49) and symptomatic disease (HR 0.21, 95% CI 0.08-0.54) compared to children who were unvaccinated and had no immunity from prior infection.

• Among children who received at least one dose of a Pfizer bivalent booster, there was no significant reduction in COVID-19 infections (HR 0.74, 95% CI of 0.37-1.48) or symptoms (HR 1.04, 95% CI 0.37-2.96).

Daniel O’Connor, founder and publisher of TrialSite News, said the study raises questions. “Why did the authors downplay the outcomes in the initial abstract? Why is this not on the front page of the news?”

Hulscher said it was significant that CDC scientists authored the study. “This demonstrates that many scientists within our public health agencies remain committed to reporting the truth, even when it carries significant implications.”

Despite limitations, study raises key questions

The study’s authors noted some significant limitations, including a small sample size and the potential for not detecting all prior COVID-19 infections due to the “waning” of antibodies over time.

In an analysis published on TrialSite News, O’Connor identified some additional limitations of the study.

“The study assumes that unvaccinated and vaccinated groups had comparable levels of exposure to the virus, which may not hold true due to differences in family behaviors or risk perception,” O’Connor wrote.

O’Connor said the study may not have measured the impact of the COVID-19 variant — XBB — that was prevalent at the time of the study and which “differed genetically from the vaccine strains, reducing potential vaccine effectiveness.”

He also said there may also be biases inherent within the sample, such as the “healthy user bias,” where “parents choosing vaccination may engage in other behaviors that affect exposure and risk.”

“Reverse causation, meaning vaccinated children could have been tested more frequently, increased the likelihood of detecting infections,” O’Connor wrote.

Kulldorff also noted that the study did not answer questions about the comparative rates of hospitalizations among vaccinated and unvaccinated children.

“COVID vaccines should not be judged or recommended based on their ability to reduce COVID infection or symptomatic disease, but on whether they reduce COVID hospitalizations and deaths,” Kulldorff said. “Just like the original randomized trials, this study provides no information about this latter important question.”

Hulscher said the results of this study corroborate the findings of a 2023 Cleveland Clinic study that “found that the risk of COVID-19 increased with the number of vaccine doses previously received.”

“Thus, I would expect to see similar findings in future studies with larger sample sizes,” Hulscher said.

Although the study focused only on the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, Hulscher said he expects “similar findings from other mRNA shots, as they rely on the same mechanism of action.”

Experts also said the study’s findings contribute to recent calls for a moratorium on the administration of mRNA products.

“This study adds to the enormous body of evidence demonstrating the urgent need to remove all mRNA injections from the market,” Hulscher said.

“Based on this study, it will be critically important to put a hard stop on pediatric COVID-19 vaccinations until it is determined whether vaccination truly did increase infection susceptibility,” Noorchashm said.

O’Connor called for “more open, transparent and less biased public health research moving forward.”