COVID & children

COVID-19 has had a disproportionate burden on children. Many children have been diagnosed with COVID, missed school and day care days, and suffered mental health consequences arising from it. More than 200,000 children have lost parents to COVID, and an untold number have lost grandparents. This tragedy has particularly befallen children of color and lower socioeconomic status.

• COVID-19 is the eighth leading cause of death in children in the U.S. There have been 1,700 pediatric COVID-19 deaths nationally since the start of the pandemic in January 2020—mainly “avoidable deaths” if vaccination rates had been higher.
• Overall, 185,000 hospitalizations deaths have been reported in the U.S. pediatric population between January 2020 and March 2023.
• The cumulative number of child COVID-19 cases from October 2020 through March 2023 across the U.S. is:
  • 15,400,581 total child COVID-19 cases reported, with children representing 18% of all cases (totaling 85,384,135)—and this number is likely an undercount
  • Of states still reporting COVID-19 cases, eight have had more than 500,000 cases among children in their state
  • Overall rate: 20,461 cases per 100,000 children in the population

What fuller vaccination could have achieved

A major modeling study has found that among children ages 5 to 17 years, a COVID-19 bivalent booster campaign achieving age-specific coverage similar to influenza vaccination could have averted an estimated 5,448,694 days of school absenteeism due to COVID-19 illness. In addition, the booster campaign could have prevented an estimated 10,019 hospitalizations among the pediatric population ages 0 to 17 years, of which 2,645 were estimated to require intensive care.

A less ambitious booster campaign with only 50% of the age-specific uptake of influenza vaccination among eligible children could have averted an estimated 2,875,926 days of school absenteeism among children ages 5 to 17 years and an estimated 5,791 hospitalizations among children ages 0 to 17 years, of which 1,397 were estimated to require intensive care.

Vaccination still important after getting COVID-19

COVID-19 is still highly prevalent and continues to carry risk of serious illness, long-term effects, and death: During one week in February 2023 (2/2/23-2/9/23), 30,709 child COVID-19 cases were reported in the U.S. These are likely undercounts, as home testing has become more commonplace in the past year, and there is no mandated public health reporting system anymore.

Despite these facts, nationally, only 32% of children ages 5 to 11 have had two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of May 2023. But we know that:

• Children who have already had COVID-19 should still get vaccinated.
• With such low vaccination rates among children, there is a greater risk of new variants.
• Children who have had COVID-19 once can get it again and spread it to family members.
• COVID-19 in children remains one of the major factors in school absenteeism.
• There remains the risk of serious COVID-19 in children who have not been vaccinated.