November 08, 2025
3 min read
Key takeaways:
- COVID-19 vaccinated vs. unvaccinated pediatric patients with atopic dermatitis had a decreased risk for contact dermatitis, allergic rhinitis and asthma.
- This was also true for 10 individual infections.
ORLANDO — Pediatric patients with atopic dermatitis vaccinated for COVID-19 had lower risks for infections and allergic outcomes, according to data presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting.
“For everyday clinicians, these findings are reassuring,” Tristan Nguyen, BS, MD-PhD candidate at the John Sealy School of Medicine, told Healio. “They indicate that COVID-19 vaccination is safe for children with eczema within the scope of our study and may also be associated with fewer infectious or allergic flare events.
“This supports encouraging vaccination in this population, especially for families who may have been hesitant due to concerns about immune sensitivity or potential adverse effects,” Nguyen said.
In a retrospective cohort study, Nguyen and colleagues assessed COVID-19 vaccinated and unvaccinated pediatric patients with AD via the TriNetX research network to uncover the impact of this vaccination on the risk for various infections and allergic complications.
Key exclusion criteria were prior COVID-19 infection and major comorbidities, according to the poster.
Researchers used demographic, comorbidity, medication and vaccination history data to match the two sets of patients in a 1:1 ratio, which yielded 5,758 patients in each group. Notably, pediatric patients with AD vaccinated for COVID-19 had significantly lower risks for 10 individual infections vs. unvaccinated patients:
- acute bronchiolitis (RR = 0.48; 95% CI, 0.35-0.67);
- acute bronchitis (RR = 0.49; 95% CI, 0.29-0.83);
- impetigo (RR = 0.49; 95% CI, 0.36-0.68);
- non-COVID viral infections (RR = 0.55; 95% CI, 0.46-0.66);
- acute sinusitis (RR = 0.55; 95% CI, 0.41-0.74);
- skin and subcutaneous infections (RR = 0.56; 95% CI, 0.36-0.88);
- molluscum contagiosum (RR = 0.6; 95% CI, 0.41-0.87);
- influenza/pneumonia (RR = 0.6; 95% CI, 0.51-0.71);
- otitis media (RR = 0.62; 95% CI, 0.55-0.7); and
- upper respiratory infections (RR = 0.65; 95% CI, 0.58-0.72).
In addition to lowering the risks for several types of infections, researchers reported that COVID-19 vaccinated vs. unvaccinated patients had a significantly decreased risk for allergic contact dermatitis (RR = 0.54; 95% CI, 0.32-0.9), allergic rhinitis (RR = 0.56; 95% CI, 0.48-0.66) and asthma (RR = 0.7; 95% CI, 0.57-0.85).
Compared with the unvaccinated group, the risk for anaphylactic food reactions was also lessened in the vaccinated group (RR = 0.7; 95% CI, 0.53-0.94).
“We were somewhat surprised by how consistent the protective effects were across multiple allergic and infectious outcomes,” Nguyen told Healio. “Even after excluding children who had COVID-19, vaccination was still linked to a lower risk of conditions like otitis media, bronchiolitis and allergic rhinitis.
“Our findings suggest that the COVID-19 vaccine may confer broader immune benefits beyond direct protection against SARS-CoV-2,” Nguyen said.
According to the study, time-to-event onset was significantly delayed for five complications among patients who did vs. did not receive vaccination for COVID-19.
These infections/conditions included otitis media (HR = 0.658; 95% CI, 0.58-0.747), acute bronchiolitis (HR = 0.474; 95% CI, 0.338-0.664), non-COVID-19 viral infections (HR = 0.687; 95% CI, 0.566-0.835), upper respiratory infections (HR = 0.676; 95% CI, 0.603-0.759) and allergic rhinitis (HR = 0.779; 95% CI, 0.653-0.929).
The two groups did not significantly differ in psychiatric or growth-related outcomes.
“Our next step is to investigate the immunologic mechanisms behind these associations, including whether COVID-19 vaccination promotes ‘trained immunity’ or reprograms inflammatory pathways in children with atopic disease,” Nguyen told Healio.
“Emerging research suggests that some vaccines can modulate innate immune responses in a way that alters baseline inflammatory activity and improves immune regulation,” he continued. “For children with eczema, who often have underlying immune dysregulation, this type of modulation could contribute to more stable inflammatory signaling and a reduced incidence of allergic or infectious events.”
For more information:
Tristan Nguyen, BS, can be reached at trxnguye@utmb.edu.
Sources/Disclosures
Source:
Nguyen T, et al. COVID-19 vaccination is associated with reduced complications in pediatric patients with atopic dermatitis. Presented at: ACAAI Annual Scientific Meeting; Nov. 6-10, 2025; Orlando.
Reference:
Disclosures:
Nguyen reports no relevant financial disclosures.
Ask a clinical question and tap into Healio AI’s knowledge base.
- PubMed, enrolling/recruiting trials, guidelines
- Clinical Guidance, Healio CME, FDA news
- Healio’s exclusive daily news coverage of clinical data
