Will Upcoming COVID Waves Affect More Children? Know What RMRC-Bhubaneswar Study Says

Bhubaneswar: The positivity rate among children in Odisha was less than the adults during the last two COVID-19 waves.

The case fatality rates in the state in the 0–17 years age group were 0.05 per cent and 0.03 per cent, respectively, in the first and second waves, which were much lower than the overall case fatality (0.75 per cent).

In 2021, 4, 11 and 8 children succumbed to COVID-19 in the age groups 0–6, 7–14 and 15–18 years, respectively, whereas the number of deaths was 3, 6 and 4 in the same age groups in 2020.

This was revealed in a study, ‘COVID-19 in children in Odisha state, India: A retrospective review’, conducted by a team of scientists, which included Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar, director Sanghamitra Pati.

Swab samples, tested from March 7, 2020, to August 17, 2021, were analysed at the centre.

Based on serosurveillance reports conducted by the ICMR in June 2021, the COVID-19 infection frequency in children above 10 years of age was similar to that of adults. The seroprevalence in the 10–17 years age group and ≥18 years increased from 27.8 per cent to 61.8 per cent and from 25.8 per cent to 69.69 per cent respectively, in the third (December 2020–January 2021) and fourth (June–July 2021) serosurvey.

None of the children had any comorbidities as per the data collected during sample collection, the study said.

Notably, more than 2 per cent of the 44.5million population of Odisha were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection between September 2020 and May 2021.

“Fear of mutations causing more severe cases in children has no solid scientific evidence to date. The most successful strategy to return children to schools is to increase vaccine eligibility for children and adolescents while addressing vaccine hesitancy,” it further said.

There is a gradual emergence of evidence of vaccine effectiveness in adolescents. Even without vaccination, due to the high prevalence of seropositivity, children might incur natural immunity in preventing future infection or complications of COVID-19, it added.

The study also highlighted that there is no such concrete evidence to show that children are or would be affected more than adults in the upcoming waves.