Infants youthful than 6 months had the identical price of hospitalization as seniors age 65 to 74 throughout this summer time’s Omicron wave, in keeping with a brand new report.
The findings, revealed by the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, present that COVID-19 can nonetheless trigger extreme and deadly outcomes in youngsters too younger to be vaccinated.
“These findings underscore the continued threat for COVID-19–related hospitalization amongst infants [younger than] six months who’re ineligible for vaccination,” the report mentioned.
“A number of components seemingly contributed to excessive COVID-19–related hospitalization charges amongst younger infants through the Omicron variant–predominant interval,” the authors defined, “together with the excessive infectivity and group transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and the comparatively low threshold for hospitalizing infants for indicators and signs in step with COVID-19 (e.g., fever) relative to that in older youngsters.”
In the course of the first Omicron surge that unfold final fall and winter, the COVID-19 hospitalization price spiked for each the youngest infants and youthful seniors, finally reaching about the identical price. Then, through the variant’s summer time surge, the hospitalization price for each teams climbed once more, additionally hitting about the identical price.
In prior surges, the youngest infants had been hospitalized at charges properly beneath these amongst seniors age 65 to 74.
The COVID-19 hospitalization price for the youngest infants through the summer time’s Omicron wave was considerably greater than the earlier summer time’s peak, which was dominated by the Delta variant.
The findings might come as a shock, particularly given the standard knowledge that youthful youngsters and infants are far much less prone to fall severely sick with COVID-19 than older teams.
However the information illustrate that the teams hit arduous by the virus can change with the rise and fall of recent coronavirus variants.
The CDC and American School of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advocate that pregnant and breastfeeding girls be vaccinated “to facilitate the passive switch of antibodies to those very younger infants,” Dr. Krysia Lindan, a UC San Francisco professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, mentioned at a latest campus city corridor.
This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Instances.
