Compared to previous coronavirus variants, Omicron causes less serious illness in children who become infected, says Imperial College’s Health Policy Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in a new lengthy Facebook post. Mosial.
According to him, many parents are worried about their children getting the omicron variant, either because they have not been vaccinated because they are young (under five years old) or because their parents read that even several vaccinated people can get sick if they get the omicron.
He clarified that sticking Omicron as a vaccine does not necessarily mean that it will develop into a serious disease, as shown by the epidemiological data from the countries where the Omicron variant was widely circulated earlier. The majority of those who will get the disease will have mild symptoms, while a significant percentage (30% based on studies in South Africa) will be asymptomatic.
Referring in particular to the data on the impact of Omicron on children, he points out that “several countries report higher rates of children being hospitalized as Omicron spreads, compared to the Delta variant. Evidence suggests that babies may also be admitted to hospital. However, the analysis of the British data, and compared to previous variants, shows that Omicron causes less serious disease in children who will get stuck. This is further supported by a new South African analysis of childcare. “
“Maybe it’s good,” he continues, “to explain the difference in the scale of imports. That is, as we have a very high number of infections due to the very high transmissibility of Omicron, it makes sense to have a higher number of imports. In other words, the increase in admissions simply describes the current burden on hospitals, and not necessarily the hospitalization of children due to serious symptoms. Let me also remind you that in both England and South Africa, children under the age of 12 are not vaccinated. At the same time, do not forget that very young children have been exposed to a much smaller number of infections. So they do not even have high rates of cross-immunoprotection having been diagnosed with previous infections with other variants of the coronavirus. It has also not been confirmed that the Omicron variant can cause more severe symptoms in children, compared to previous variants. “But looking at the data from the admissions, most of the children who are admitted to the hospital are not as seriously ill as those who were admitted during the previous waves.” And he adds:
But what do we know so far about the number of admissions, the intensity and the duration of the hospitalization of the children who contracted Omicron? According to an analysis from around 140 hospitals across the UK, of those who were treated for Omicron and were under 17, about 42% were under one year old, compared with 30% in previous waves. . 42% refers to imports from mid-December to mid-January. As in South Africa, in the United Kingdom they observed that children who were hospitalized needed oxygen less often than children who were stuck with the Delta variant.
The data from England also show that in the age group of 2-17 years, 20 children were treated in the intensive care unit, all of whom were unvaccinated. Pediatric admissions in England had a shorter duration of hospitalization (less than two days on average) compared to the first wave in which children were hospitalized for about a week. Also, data from the National Health System of England, which analyzed about 50 cases of infants admitted with coronavirus, show that oxygen was needed a few times. For example, only 11% of children under one year of age needed oxygen, compared with about 20% in previous waves. In fact, more than half of the babies stayed in the hospital to monitor their progress and needed no treatment at all.
Mr. Mosialos also points out that “the instructions for admitting someone to the hospital are different by age and differ for infants with fever. So let us not forget that when we talk about increased admissions, we must compare both the symptoms and the duration of hospitalization and whether they needed treatment. For the time being, data from England for very young children show a mild symptom, with perhaps a fever and cough. Take, for example, the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a very common virus that infects many infants and young children. This virus can cause higher admission rates in children under 5 years of age if we compare them to the incidence rates currently induced by Omicron in England in this age group. The picture we have of mild infections in children is different in New York State.
There, a relatively higher number of admissions of children has been recorded, especially in those under 4 years old, compared to the previous waves. The preliminary health report states that “the potentially increased severity of the Omicron variant may also play a role in increasing hospitalization rates in children ≤11 years of age, compared with adults and children 12-17 years of age”. However, so far this analysis is based only on total admissions, not on how many children needed treatment, such as respiratory support.
Finally, Mr. Mosialos cites data from a recent meta-analysis on the long-term Covid syndrome, according to which it seems that children, if they get sick, have less long-term effects on fatigue, compared to adults. Also, it seems that there was no significant impact of the infection on a cognitive level in children who became ill (while it was present in adults).
“It is important,” he concludes, “to remember that vaccines are safe for pregnant and lactating mothers and that we have evidence that antibodies are passed on to infants and through breastfeeding. “Let us all try to actively protect our own people, of all ages.”
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