Though vaccines have restored some semblance of pre-pandemic life for most people in the United States, one group is still waiting: kids under five, who are not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccines. That’s been particularly frustrating for their parents, who must decide what activities are safe for their unvaccinated children—and who are often left scrambling when outbreaks shut down schools and daycare.
Compared to adults, children in this age group are less at risk for severe COVID-19. But currently the coronavirus’s Omicron variant is driving a surge in pediatric hospitalizations—more than double that of the previous peak in the fall—because it’s more transmissible than earlier strains.
Elizabeth Lloyd, a pediatric infectious diseases expert at University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, says it’s hard to tease out how many children were hospitalized for COVID-19 versus for other reasons. “But from my experience, we’re definitely seeing more kids who are sick and who are sometimes needing ICU-level care,” she says. “This is something we’re hoping with this [children’s] vaccine could be preventable.”
Read more at National Geographic.