Do Vaccinated Kids Who Get Sick Have Milder Disease?

There is another benefit of vaccines that you might not be aware of.

Vaccines are typically very effective, but of course, they aren’t perfect.

Fortunately, even when they don’t work and you do get sick, vaccinated kids will often have milder disease than those who are unvaccinated.

Do Vaccinated Kids Who Get Sick Have Milder Disease?

While no one expects to get a vaccine-preventable disease if they have been vaccinated, it is nice to know that often, you will at least have a milder disease.

“Disease may occur in previously vaccinated individuals. Such breakthroughs are either primary – due to vaccine failure – or secondary. In such cases, the disease is usually milder than in the non-vaccinated.” Vaccination greatly reduces disease, disability, death and inequity worldwide

Milder mumps and pertussis?

“The number of previous vaccine doses was inversely associated with clinical severity.” Zamir et al on Characteristics of a large mumps outbreak: Clinical severity, complications and association with vaccination status of mumps outbreak cases

Yes!

And that’s good news for all of the folks concerned about waning immunity with these vaccines.

“A protective effect of vaccination was noted when mean duration of symptoms and hospital stay are analysed, comparing unvaccinated, partially vaccinated and fully vaccinated children. We showed a vaccination dose effect trend, with fully vaccinated children having less-severe RVGE than not vaccinated and partially vaccinated children.” Justino et al on Clinical Severity and Rotavirus Vaccination among Children Hospitalized for Acute Gastroenteritis in Belém, Northern Brazil

Consider that, in addition to preventing disease:

two doses of MMR has been found to have a significant preventive effect against mumps complications, including orchitis, meningitis, and encephalitis, and hospitalization for mumps

two doses of the chickenpox vaccine has been found to be very effective at preventing severe disease, in fact, kids with breakthrough chickenpox often don’t have fever, have fewer than 50 spots, and they go away quicker than kids who are unvaccinated.

vaccinated kids who get pertussis typically don’t cough as long as those who are unvaccinated

the rotavirus vaccine series, in addition to protecting most kids from getting rotavirus infections in the first place, protected all of the vaccinated kids from getting severe infections

the flu vaccine reduces the risk of severe disease, especially if you are hospitalized with the flu

What does this all mean?

Two kids with smallpox – one vaccinated and one unvaccinated. Can you guess which is which? The vaccinated child on the right only has one or two spots…

It means that vaccines work, even when they don’t work as well as we would like them to!

More On the Severity of Breakthrough Infections

Like this: Like Loading...