Infections in US children skyrocket
FDA plans to allow booster shots for kids ages 12 to 15
SEATTLE — The omicron-fueled surge that is sending COVID-19 cases rocketing in the U.S. is putting children in the hospital in close to record numbers, and experts lament that most of the youngsters are not vaccinated.
“It’s just so heartbreaking,” said Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “It was hard enough last year, but now you know that you have a way to prevent all this.”
As part of the effort to guard children against COVID-19, the Food and Drug Administration is planning to broaden eligibility for coronavirus vaccine booster doses Monday, allowing 12- to 15-year-olds to receive third doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, according to people familiar with the agency’s deliberations.
Regulators also plan to allow adolescents and adults to seek an extra shot of Pfizer’s vaccine five months after receiving a second dose, instead of the current period of six months. A booster shot is also expected to be authorized for younger children, ages 5 to 11, with immune deficiencies.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee is planning to meet by the middle of next week to vote on whether to recommend the changes. If the committee agrees with the FDA’s authorizations, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, is expected to endorse the revisions.
The move to expand boosters comes as the highly contagious omicron variant is infecting a record number of Americans with the coronavirus, putting more pressure on hospitals already deluged by COVID19 patients from the delta variant.
More than 70% of people in the country 12 years and older are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. At least 1.8 million adolescents 12 to 15 years old have tested positive for the virus, according to the CDC.
During the week of Dec. 21-27, an average of 334 children age 17 and under were admitted per day to hospitals with the coronavirus, a 58% increase from the week before, according to the CDC.
The previous peak over the course of the pandemic was in early September, when child hospitalizations averaged 342 per day, the CDC said.
On a more hopeful note, children continue to represent a small percentage of those hospitalized with COVID-19: An average of over 9,400 people of all ages were admitted per day during the same week in December. And many doctors say the youngsters coming in now seem less sick than those seen during the delta surge over the summer.
Two months after vaccinations were approved for 5- to 11-year-olds, about 14% are fully protected, CDC data show. The rate is higher for 12- to 17-year-olds, at about 53%.
COVID-19 deaths have proved rare among children during the pandemic. As of last week, 721 in the U.S. had died of the disease, according to data reported to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The overall U.S. death toll is more than 820,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The issue is timing in many cases, said Dr. Albert Ko, professor of epidemiology and infectious diseases at the Yale School of Public Health. Younger children were not approved for the vaccine until November, and many are only now coming up on their second dose, he said.
Offit said none of the vaccine-eligible children receiving care at his hospital about a week ago had been vaccinated, even though two-thirds had underlying conditions that put them at risk — either chronic lung disease or, more commonly, obesity. Only one was under the vaccination age of 5.
The hospital scenes are heart-rending.
“They’re struggling to breathe,” Offit said. “A handful were sent to the ICU to be sedated. We put the attachment down their throat that’s attached to a ventilator, and the parents are crying.”
None of the parents or siblings was vaccinated either, he said.
The next four to six weeks are going to be rough, he said: “This is a virus that thrives in the winter.”
Aria Shapiro, 6, spent her 12th day Thursday at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She tested positive for COVID19 after getting her first dose of the vaccine Dec. 17.
Aria, who is considered “medically fragile” because she has epilepsy, suffered prolonged seizures in the hospital, and a breathing tube had to be put down her throat at one point, though she has since improved.
“We lived our life in for two years to prevent her from getting COVID, finally went for the vax, and the one thing that we didn’t want to happen happened,” said her mother, Sarah Shapiro.
Overall, new COVID-19 cases in Americans of all ages have skyrocketed to the highest levels on record: an average of 300,000 per day, or 2 ½ times the figure just two weeks ago. Omicron accounted for 59% of new cases last week, according to the CDC.
Still, there are early indications that the variant causes milder illness than previous versions, and that the combination of the vaccine and the booster
seems to protect people from its worst effects.