1 in ~4540 children below 5 died of COVID, cumulatively, vs. 1 in 9600 for all other children (teenagers are also at higher risk, so if you compare very young children to the 5-11 group the 0-4 group is actually closer to 3x higher risk). These are CFRs of course, not IFRs. And obviously these stats are progressively getting skewed by the availability of vaccinations for older groups - but I've posted this data before vaccines were widely available for the 5-11 group, and this vulnerability difference is still apparent in that data (you can look up the posts - for
example, but I have posted earlier as well ). For Omicron the situation could be different, but generally young children have floppy airways and can be more vulnerable to respiratory diseases, as you are well aware, as you are a pediatrician. It's speculative, but I assume that's the reason for these stats looking the way they do, and it's not just a ascertainment bias issue (possible, but I think given the degree of difference, unlikely to be the only explanation).
View attachment 771079
The doses they used are very small it seems (7ug instead of 100ug) and maybe they went too conservative. We'll hope that the response is strong enough for the three dose data. I suspect it will be. But we'll know in a few weeks.
My data above is cumulative, but I've posted this before, prior to Omicron really pushing through, so it's possible to look at deltas and see how risk has changed for each group over time specifically for the Omicron period - though CDC death data lags so much that it's too early to. make that assessment. Not going to do that here as a result.
). As a total population risk - COVID is still much more of a threat than the flu this winter thanks to anti-COVID measures.
www.cnn.com
