Vaccinated Adults Helps Protect Unvaccinated Children, Study Finds

New data from Israel, which had the fastest COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the world, provides real-world evidence that widespread vaccination against the coronavirus can also protect people who are unvaccinated, reported The New York Times.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Medicine, took advantage of the fact that until recently Israel was only vaccinating people 16 or older.

Results suggest that for every 20 percentage point increase in the share of 16- to 50-year-olds who were vaccinated in a community, the share of unvaccinated people under-16 who tested positive for the virus fell by half.

The researchers analyzed vaccination records and virus test results between December 6, 2020, and March 9, 2021. The records came from 177 different geographic areas, which had varying rates of vaccination and vaccine uptake.

"The results are consistent with vaccinees not only not getting sick themselves, but also not transmitting the virus to others," said Roy Kishony, who co-led the study, adding that "such effects can be amplified over multiple cycles of infections."