Why more children in the age of 5-11 are getting very sick with COVID in the US

As per a study carried out by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 87% of the kids in the US who were admitted to hospitals during the Omicron wave of COVID were unvaccinated.

"During the period of Omicron predominance (December 19, 2021–February 28, 2022), COVID-19–associated hospitalization rates in children aged 5–11 years were approximately twice as high among unvaccinated as among vaccinated children," the US CDC said in a report.

The study has analyzed the COVID-19–Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) data among 1,475 US children aged 5–11 years who were hospitalized for COVID throughout the pandemic.

A total 397 children were hospitalized during the Omicron-predominant period.

“Increasing COVID-19 vaccination coverage among children aged 5–11 years, particularly among racial and ethnic minority groups disproportionately affected by COVID-19, can prevent COVID-19–associated hospitalization and severe outcomes,” the study has observed.

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"Thirty percent of hospitalized children had no underlying medical conditions, and 19% were admitted to an intensive care unit," the study says.

The CDC study found that during the Omicron wave, COVID was the primary reason for hospitalisation of 5-11 year old kids in 73% of the cases; which was lower than the hospitalisation percent during Delta wave.

33% of those kids who were hospitalised during the Omicron wave had neurologic disorders. "During the period of Omicron predominance, a larger proportion of children hospitalized with COVID-19 had neurologic disorders (33%) compared with those hospitalized during the pre-Delta period (21%)," it says.

Across all the waves of COVID, 32% of hospitalized children aged 5–11 years had severe COVID-19 and the risk of severity was high for those kids who had diabetes and were obese.

The study also found that risk for severe disease was lower among children with asthma and immunocompromising conditions. This was consistent with findings from influenza-associated hospitalizations

During Omicron predominance, shortly after the Food and Drug Administration authorized COVID-19 vaccination for this age group, population-based hospitalization rates among unvaccinated children were twice as high as those among vaccinated children, says the US CDC.

Vaccination program was rolled out for children between 5-11 years old on November 2, 2021, a few months before the Omicron wave hit the US. In late December 2021, Omicron became the predominant strain in the US, coinciding with a rapid increase in COVID hospitalizations among all age groups, including children aged 5–11 years.

During the first few months of the Omicron wave, 9 in 10 kids in the US were not vaccinated against COVID.

Non-Hispanic Black children represented the largest group of unvaccinated children, the US CDC report says.

The study found that among the 13% vaccinated children who were hospitalized none required higher level oxygen support (e.g., bilevel positive airway pressure/ continuous positive airway pressure [BiPAP/CPAP], high flow nasal canula, or IMV), whereas 19% of the unvaccinated kids required ICU admission and 5% required IMV.

"The finding that hospitalization rates in unvaccinated children were double those of vaccinated children suggests that vaccines are effective in preventing COVID-19–associated morbidities. This is consistent with recent studies, which suggest that vaccination reduces the risk for Omicron infection, protects against COVID-19–associated illness among children aged 5–11 years and prevents multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, a severe postinfectious hyperinflammatory condition with a higher incidence in this age group than in other age groups," it adds.