COVID: ómicron is more risky in children, according to South African study

The omicron variant may be more dangerous to children than previous coronavirus variants, according to a study of hospitalization data from one of South Africa’s largest health insurance programs.

Data from the 56,164 hospital admissions related to COVID-19 among the more than 2 million beneficiaries of the Government Employees Medical Plan revealed that the admission rate of children under four years of age was 49% higher during the wave of omicron than during delta.

It was also higher than during the waves of infection driven by the original virus and the beta variant, according to data analyzed by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD).

In addition, admissions were 25% higher for children and youth ages 4 to 18 than in the delta wave, though lower than in the beta wave, it showed.

The trend among children contrasts with data from adults, in which the omicron wave caused the lowest admission rate of any of the four variants that have caused large surges in infections in South Africa.

“Persons under the age of 18 are responsible for an increasing proportion of identified COVID-19 infections and are associated with an increasing case admission ratethe NICD said in its Wednesday report.

“This possibly suggests that the young are more commonly affected by omicron in contrast to the adult population.”, he added.

Still, the results may be skewed by the fact that until early November, children between the ages of 12 and 17 could not be vaccinated against COVID-19 in South Africa and those under 12 are not eligible for the vaccines, he said. the NICD. Older age groups in the country are proportionately more vaccinated than younger adults.