Even as adults get vaccinated, kids remain vulnerable to MIS-C

The condition was only identified last year.

ByDr. Áine Cooke via logo
Video byAlyssa Gregory
May 10, 2021, 4:05 AM

More than half of U.S. adults have now received at least one COVID-19 vaccine, but children remain unimmunized and unprotected from potential infection.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is now reporting that in some states, up to 18% of all COVID-19 cases occurred in children during the month of April. In Michigan, where COVID-19 cases have surged in recent weeks, there has been a 237% increase in admissions to pediatric hospitals from mid-February to mid-April.

While children overall tend to only have mild symptoms with SARS-COV-2 infection, as a higher percent of children contract the virus, some will likely experience severe respiratory disease.

It is also more likely that some will experience a rare consequence of infection with the virus, multi-system inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C.

PHOTO: Paramedic Randy Lilly, wearing personal protection equipment (PPE), sits with a 10-month-old boy with fever while riding by ambulance to Stamford Hospital, April 4, 2020, in Stamford, Conn.
Paramedic Randy Lilly, wearing personal protection equipment (PPE), sits with a 10-month-old boy with fever while riding by ambulance to Stamford Hospital, April 4, 2020, in Stamford, Conn.
John Moore/Getty Images