Since the early days of the pandemic, there’s been a lot of confusing, and sometimes conflicting, information about COVID-19 and children. On the one hand, we know that disease risk is linked to age, with older adults getting sick and dying at disproportionately higher rates than younger people. But on the other, COVID-19 has now become one of the top ten leading causes of death among children. With the recent approval of COVID vaccines for children ages 5 to 11, understanding the real risk COVID poses to this age group is more important than ever.
Do you ever wonder if COVID affects kids?
Dr. Priya Soni (@PriyaSoniMD) is a pediatric infectious disease specialist and assistant professor in pediatric infectious diseases at Cedars-Sinai. Since the beginning of the pandemic, she’s been following the science about COVID-19 and kids and treating patients in the clinic. She walked us through what we currently know about how COVID-19 affects children, and what the data says about the new vaccine for 5 to 11-year-olds.
If you have questions about vaccines for your kid, talking to their pediatrician is a great place to start.
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