Covid – Omicron: why is BA.2 hitting children harder? – The Independent

Are children spared from serious forms of the disease? More with Omicron and BA.2. Explanations. With the Omicron variant, the Covid-19 crisis has taken a new turn. A supposedly more contagious but less severe variant, which has caused a very large number of contaminations all around the globe and which still causes them, like the 150,000 new infections recorded this Thursday in France. Also read: Covid – Omicron: 148,635 new infections in France this Thursday, up sharply compared to last week Omicron’s particularity, this variant and its BA.2 sub-variant seem more virulent with children, who seemed spared so far. A study comes besides to twist the neck with the received ideas. Especially those who say that the youngest do not develop serious forms. This text, published on SSRN on March 21, a social network dedicated to scientific publications, highlights the severity of Omicron and BA.2 in children who have not been exposed to Covid and who have not been vaccinated. The study compares the figures of the Omicron wave in Hong Kong, particularly affected at the beginning of the year, with those of the other waves, as well as with the flu in the various public hospitals of the territory in children aged up to 11 years, not exposed to the virus until then and not vaccinated. “A lack of immune reaction” The figures are edifying: 1,147 children were hospitalized between February 5 and 28 (Omicron wave) against 737 during the 4 previous waves (between January 1, 2020 and November 1, 2021)! Public hospitals also recorded 4 child deaths during the Omicron wave, none during the previous four waves. A percentage (0.35%) seven times greater than that of the flu. The proportions of neurological (14.91%) and respiratory complications are also higher for Omicron. Finally, only one child was admitted to critical care during the first four waves. 21 received intensive care between February 5 and 28. “In addition to being infected and not vaccinated, another possible explanation for the infection of children under 5 in particular is a lack of exposure to coronaviruses in the last two years, resulting in a lack of immune response” , analyze the authors of the study. Conclusion, for the researchers, only one solution: the vaccination of eligible children. And “the track leading to the vaccination of children under 3 must be explored urgently”.