Omicron Fear: Children, Unvaccinated Teenagers Could Be Next Victims Of COVID-19

New Delhi: The new more infectious Omicron strain may not bode well for the younger, still unvaccinated, population under the age of 18. Researchers fear that youngsters may be at a higher risk of contracting the virus and experiencing severe symptoms.

While India has granted emergency use authorisation to two children’s vaccines, Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, vaccination is yet to begin.

To add to the fears, according to South African health officials, hospitalisation among children under the age of five is on the rise. The hospital is admitting roughly 5-10 youngsters at a time, said Dr Rudo Mathivha, head of Intensive Care at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in South Africa, reported Times of India. The doctor also mentioned two serious COVID-19 cases, one in which a 15-year-old died from the virus, while a 17-year-old is still fighting in the ICU.

However, the hospital has yet to determine if the two had the Omicron variant. She verified that the children in question had no prior health issues and that they only had a fever for the first two days, after which their condition rapidly deteriorated, the report added.

WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan, has also said that unvaccinated individuals, including children, may be at a higher risk of infection. In a conversation with CNBC TV-18, she said, “Not many vaccines are available for children and very few countries are vaccinating children. Children and the unvaccinated may get more infections when cases rise. We are still waiting for data to conclude the omicron variant’s impact on children.”

As schools and colleges were returning to normalcy, the emergence of the new variant and the reports coming from South Africa are becoming a cause of concern for everyone.