US: COVID hospitalisation rate for children reaches record highs amid Omicron surge

Amid the rise in COVID-19 cases in the United States, hospitalisation among children due to the virus has reached the highest level since the beginning of the pandemic. The new revelation regarding the rise in pediatric hospitalisation has been made in the latest data provided by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to ANI. As per the CDC data, there is an average of 893 hospitalisations witnessed every day among children aged 17 years or below. 

Hospitalisations among children have witnessed a record rise since the time CDC has started to track the number of admissions in hospitals from August 2020. While most of the children admitted to the hospital are due to COVID-19, however, some of the children even tested COVID-19 positive when they had been admitted for other reasons or during their stay in the hospital, as per the ANI report. The United States is witnessing the highest rate of hospitalisations among children aged 4 years or below who are not yet eligible for getting inoculated against COVID-19.  According to the CDC, the Omicron variant does not likely cause more severe disease among children in comparison to other variants.

Hospitalisation among children 

Furthermore, there have been more than 90,000 total hospital admissions among children aged 17 years or below from August 1, 2020, to January 13, 2022. The CDC has anticipated that the increase in hospitalisations due to COVID-19 will continue to increase among children in the weeks ahead, as per the news report. The US CDC has advised children aged 5 years or above to get vaccinated to protect themselves against COVID-19. The CDC noted that despite the rise in hospitalisations among children, the overall rate of pediatric hospitalisation is still lower than any other adult age group.

Vaccines for children in the US

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended everyone aged 5 years and above to vaccinated against COVID-19. For children aged between 5 years to 17 years, the CDC has recommended Pfizer - BioNTech vaccine to protect themselves against COVID-19. The CDC has advised children aged 12 years and older to receive a booster shot of vaccine. 

COVID-19 situation the US

According to the statistics provided by Johns Hopkins University, as of January 17, 65,700,210 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States. The total number of fatalities reported due to COVID-19 in the US is 850,605. According to the US CDC, 209 million people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the United States. 79.7 million people have received a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

(With inputs from ANI)

Image: AP/Pixabay