Children may be less likely than adults to be hospitalized with COVID-19, but a recent study found that those who are not yet vaccinated suffer the worst consequences of the disease compared to their vaccinated peers.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at hospitalizations in 14 states among children ages 5 to 11 during the pandemic.
They found that COVID-related hospitalization rates were about twice as high among unvaccinated children as among those who were vaccinated during the omicron wave from December to February, according to the report published this week in the Morbidity and Morbidity Weekly Report of the agency.
The Food and Drug Administration licensed the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 in November, but about two-thirds of the eligible population — roughly 18 million children — have yet to receive their first dose.
“COVID-19 continues to be a problem for children,” said Dr. Emily Volk, president of the College of American Pathologists. “Assumptions we had all along that children would not be severely affected by the virus need to be reconsidered with these new data.”
The CDC report found that 87% of the nearly 400 children hospitalized during the study period were unvaccinated, 30% had no underlying medical conditions, and 19% were admitted to the intensive care unit. Children with diabetes and obesity were also more likely to experience severe COVID-19.
The researchers also found stark health disparities in the data. Non-Hispanic black children accounted for approximately one-third of COVID-associated hospitalizations in this young age group, followed by white children at 31% and Hispanic children at 19%.
It’s puzzling to see that black and Latino children were among the most hospitalized group because these children also have higher rates of obesity and diabetes, said Dr. Ruth Kanthula, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at MedStar Health.
“The two are connected,” he said. “As pediatricians, we need to sit down and think about how we can target these populations.”
Previous research has shown that the omicron variant is less likely to cause severe COVID-19 in healthy people than other variants. But the CDC study found that more children were hospitalized and admitted to the ICU during the omicron wave compared to the delta wave.
The study authors say this is likely because the omicron variant is more transmissible than the delta variant and caused more infections.
“Vaccination is a very important and safe way to address the risk of COVID-19, but I know parents are concerned,” said Dr. Andrea Berry, a pediatric infectious disease physician at the University of Maryland Medical Center. .
Health experts say one of the main reasons parents haven’t vaccinated their children is because they feel they don’t need it. The perceived risk of the vaccine is greater than the risk of the disease, said Karen Ernst, program director of Voices for Vaccines, a family-run organization that provides parents with information about vaccines for their children.
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“People are doing their own risk assessment about vaccines and COVID based on what they personally see or what other people around them think or believe,” he said. “But people are really terrible at assessing their own personal risk, we’re all bad at it, especially when it comes to vaccination.”
Although the CDC study only identified about 400 hospitalizations in 14 states, the American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that up to 1.5% of all COVID-19 cases in children result in hospitalization in states with available data.
On the other hand, a CDC study published in March shows that the vaccine is safe in children aged 5 to 11 years, reporting no serious adverse events and only mild side effects such as fatigue, headache and fever after administering 8 million shots. dose.
It is also effective. Another agency study found that the vaccine was 31% effective in children ages 5 to 11 against omicron variant infection and 74% effective against hospitalizations.
Health experts also remind parents that the sooner they get their children vaccinated, the sooner they can be vaccinated if made available by government officials. A new study from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech that looked at blood samples from 30 children who received a third injection showed a 36-fold increase in antibodies against the omicron variant.
“The risk of COVID remains significant,” Berry said. “And so far, the risk from the vaccine is minimal.”
Follow Adrianna Rodriguez on Twitter: @AdriannaUSAT.
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