COVID Vaccines Protect Children and Teens, Study Shows
Stories - February 10, 2026
By Jill Pope, Communications Lead
Stephanie Irving, MHS
In December 2025, CHR Collaborative Scientist Stephanie Irving, MHS and colleagues reported the results of a study of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in U.S. children for the 2024-2025 season. The study found that children and teens who got the COVID-19 vaccine had a reduced risk of COVID-related emergency and urgent care visits compared with children and teens who did not get the vaccine.
The researchers published their findings in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Led by Irving and with CHR co-authors Allison Naleway, PhD, Research Investigator III, and Padma Koppolu, MPH, Data Reporting and Analytics Consultant, the study found that COVID-19 vaccines protected children, adolescents, and teens from severe COVID-related illness.
Specifically, the vaccine:
- Reduced the risk of emergency and urgent care visits for children 9 months to 4 years by 76%
- Reduced the risk of emergency and urgent care visits for children ages 5 to 17 years by 56%
To estimate vaccine effectiveness, the researchers analyzed about 98,000 visits to 256 emergency and urgent care departments across nine U.S. states between August 2024 and September 2025. In the population studied, some young people had protection from previous vaccination, previous infection, or both. The findings therefore estimate the additional protection from getting a new COVID-19 vaccine.
The findings show the yearly vaccines are working, lead author Stephanie Irving says. “Given that the vast majority of children and adolescents have some immunity from prior infection or vaccination, this is reassuring evidence that the updated COVID-19 vaccines continue to provide additional protection against severe COVID-19 disease.”
The study authors are affiliated with the seven health care systems participating in the Virtual SARS-CoV-2, Influenza, and Other respiratory viruses (VISION) Network, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The VISION network evaluates how well vaccines protect people from respiratory viruses and complications caused by these infections.