Children make up less than 0.1% of all Covid deaths since the pandemic began in 2020 despite making up 20% of population, CDC reveals
- Data from the CDC shows that children make up less that 0.1% of Covid deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020
- Children under the age of five only make up 259 of the 852,000 deaths the U.S. has recorded
- A study from October, during the Delta Covid wave, shows that half of children who are infected have an asymptomatic case
- WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said Tuesday that health children likely do not need booster shots since they face little risk from the virus
Children are extremely unlikely to die from COVID-19, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals.
The agency’s data shows that around 8.3 million children have contracted Covid and 841 have died since the pandemic began in March 2020.
This means that children make up around 12 percent of cases and less than 0.1 percent of deaths in the U.S. The Census estimates that 22 percent of Americans are under the age of 18.
Children under the age of five are especially unlikely to die, with 259 deaths being reported among the population that makes up six percent of Americans.
It has long been known children do not suffer from Covid as badly as adults do. Previous studies have found that around half of cases among children are asymptomatic.
Data from the CDC shows that children make up less than 0.1% of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. since the pandemic first began in March 2020. Pictured: A young girl in Boston, Massachusetts, is tested for Covid on January 13
The CDC reports age mortality data on a weekly basis for the previous week. Last week’s data included 834,949 total deaths since the pandemic began nearly two years ago.
The data highlights the mild risk the youngest children face from Covid.
A study published by researchers from the University of Utah in October found that 50 percent of children who contract Covid have an asymptomatic case.
The study was also performed during the Delta variant wave, before Omicron stormed the world and took over as America’s dominant strain.
![A study published in October found that half of children who contracted COVID-19 did not experience symptoms of the virus compared to only 12% of adults. The study was conducted before the more mild Omicron variant become America's dominant strain](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/08/15/48928383-10072909-image-a-1_1633702560012.jpg)
A study published in October found that half of children who contracted COVID-19 did not experience symptoms of the virus compared to only 12% of adults. The study was conducted before the more mild Omicron variant become America’s dominant strain
Omicron is much more mild than Delta and other previous strains of the virus, making it likely the risk children face has only decreased.
A CDC study published last week found that people of all ages are half as likely to require hospitalization as a result of Omicron infection and 91 percent less likely to die.
The little risk children face has made some concerned about vaccinations, as the small risk a kid faces of developing myocarditis may not be worth receiving the shot.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that she did not see it as necessary for health children to receive Covid boosters.
‘The aim is to protect the most vulnerable, to protect those at highest risk of severe disease and dying, those are our elderly population, immunocompromised with underlying conditions and also health care workers,’ she said during a briefing Tuesday.
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Swaminathan lead’s the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization. The agency has long been critical of the rollout of Covid booster shots, believing that risk of infection for a fully vaccinated person is already low enough – and that nation’s should instead donate doses overseas.
Many American parents are also split on whether they plan to vaccinate their children.
Children aged five to 11 are by far the least vaccinated group in the U.S. only 28 percent have received their first dose of the vaccine, and 19 percent are fully vaccinated, per CDC data.
For comparison, nearly every American over the age of 65 has received at least one shot, and at least 74 percent of every adult age group has received the jab.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk