Unvaccinated children hospitalized at twice the rate during Omicron surge -U.S. study
By Amruta Khandekar
(Reuters) – Hospitalization charges for unvaccinated youngsters ages 5 to 11 have been twice as excessive as amongst those that have been vaccinated throughout the file COVID-19 surge attributable to the Omicron variant, in line with a U.S. research launched on Tuesday.
For each 100,000 unvaccinated youngsters within the age group, 19.1 per have been hospitalized with COVID-19 between mid-December and late February, in contrast with 9.2 per 100,000 vaccinated youngsters, the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention reported.
The researchers checked out practically 400 hospitalizations in 14 states throughout the interval.
It discovered that among the many 397 youngsters who have been hospitalized with COVID when Omicron was dominant, 87% have been unvaccinated, one third had no underlying medical circumstances, and 19% have been admitted to an intensive care unit.
The extremely contagious Omicron variant, which drove coronavirus infections to file ranges in the US in January, fueled a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations amongst these beneath age 18, resulting in considerations in regards to the influence on unvaccinated youngsters.
U.S. regulators had approved the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for youngsters aged 5 to 11 years in October, previous to the Omicron surge.
Simply 28% of kids within the age group – round 8 million – are absolutely vaccinated, in line with CDC information. [nL3N2WC2XF]
The research additionally discovered that peak COVID-19 hospitalization charges amongst youngsters within the age group have been larger throughout the Omicron wave than when Delta was the predominant variant.
(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Invoice Berkrot)
