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.