A case for vaccinating teens asap?

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7023e1.htm?s_cid=mm7023e1_w

Since vaccinations began in late Dec / early Jan, covid numbers have gone down overall. Hospitals that had converted space for the high numbers of covid patients are now starting to reclaim that space for more normal uses.

But up until very recently, most kids have not been eligible for vaccines, and in April there was an uptick in the numbers of teens and very young kids hospitalized for covid. Now that things are starting to open up again, kids are more likely to be exposed. It's also possible that this is partly due to new variants in the US.

Link to theo adults, kids are a low risk of severe covid, but their risk isn't zero. I don't think that this is grounds for panic, but it's an argument for vaccinating teens.

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https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2780870

This study, done before vaccines were widespread in the US, tested the ability of the monoclonal antibody bamlanivimab to prevent covid in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Previously this monoclonal antibody has been shown to reduce hospitalizations if given to high-risk people in the early stages of covid.

Unfortunately, some of the new variants are resistant to this antibody, so while this study was being done, the FDA pulled the EUA for bamlanivimab used alone. It can still be used in combination with other monoclonal antibodies.

Even so, the study did find some benefit in reducing infections. But it also highlights the problem of using monoclonal antibodies. A natural antibody response results in a polyclonal antibody response, where the body makes lots of different antibodies that bind to different parts of the target pathogen. But monoclonal antibodies are all the same and bind to just one part. If that part mutates, the antibody doesn't work very well.