COVID-19 vaccines protect kids 5-11 from hospitalization
9 of 10 hospitalizations during the Omicron period were among unvaccinated children
3 minute read
A recent CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) assessed hospitalization data and demographics among children 5-11 years old from March 2020 through February 2022. This timeframe covered the pre-Delta, Delta, and Omicron periods of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, and some interesting findings can be taken from these data.
These data included information about 1475 hospitalized children across 14 states in the country. Of these 596 were during the pre-Delta period (March 2020 through June 2021), 482 were during the Delta period (June 2021 through December 2021), and 397 were during the Omicron period (December 2021 through February 2021).
Vaccinations for children 5-11 years old became available on November 2, 2021, during the tail end of Delta into the Omicron period. As of March 5, 2022, only 32% of children in this age group had completed a COVID-19 primary vaccination series.
Key findings in this analysis underscore the importance of COVID-19 vaccinations among children 5-11 years old, particularly with regard to preventing severe illness and hospitalization.
87% of children hospitalized during the Omicron period were unvaccinated. Cumulative hospitalization rates were 2.1 times higher for unvaccinated children than vaccinated children.
The rate of hospitalization among children 5-11 was the highest during the Omicron period. This is likely due to the sheer number of COVID-19 cases reported during this time as a result of the high transmissibility of this variant of SARS-CoV-2. This is why we cautioned people about diminishing the ‘milder’ nature of this variant. Something ‘milder’ that is far more contagious can do a lot more harm than something more ‘severe’ that is less contagious.
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