Children are more likely to be hospitalized for covid than adults.

The only age range that’s not eligible for vaccine in the United States is infants and 4-year-olds. This is because the contagious Omicron variant spreads quickly through the communities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that there are no signs that Omicron is making children more sick than previous versions. She said that the rise in hospitalizations is probably due to the unprecedented level of transmission.

As of January 8, approximately 7 of 100,000 children aged 5 and under were admitted to hospital with Covid, more than twice as many as the December rate. These figures are based on data from 250 of the nation’s hospitals.

Doctor Anthony Fauci, White House chief medical adviser, stated Wednesday that while children are less likely than adults to contract severe Covid disease but the risk does not disappear.

Fauci explained that “we have many children” when one looks at the children’s hospitals across the country. Many are seriously ill with Covid-19, and require hospitalization.

Roberta DeBiasi stated that most children who were admitted to Children’s National Hospital, Washington, D.C., during the omicron waves with Covid, were under five years of age.

DeBiasi is responsible for the hospital’s infectious diseases division. “It’s overwhelmingly the group who hasn’t been vaccinated,” he said.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s infectious disease chief Dr. Andi Shane said that many parents feel lost as the virus continues to infect.

Shane stated that parents need to know they’re not helpless against the disease and can take practical measures to safeguard their children. Doctors who spoke to CNBC said that although children below 5 cannot get the vaccines but parents can still protect their family by making sure everyone is up-to-date and receives a booster shot. All people 12 and older are eligible. PfizerAnd BioNTechAt least five months following their first dose, they should receive a booster shot.

According to real-world research from the U.K. Health Security Agency, people who have been vaccinated or boosted are up to 75% protected against omicron-related symptoms.

Protecting toddlers and infants against Covid can be difficult because there are so few resources available, according to Dr. Allison Bartlett at Comer Children’s Hospital, Chicago. The vaccine is not available to them. They cannot be given the vaccine.

Bartlett stated that they have three chances of getting infected. Parents can still protect themselves by using all of the available mitigation methods to lower the likelihood of their family members contracting the virus or spreading it to other people, she stated.

Bartlett explained that “it just seems to be that much more imperative for everybody else in the house and in touch with the children less than five to wear their own masks, socially distance themselves from the outside world and take any other risk-mitigation steps to cocoon and protect them,”

Shane explained that parents can be tired from the pandemic. They want to see normal interactions between their children again.

Shane explained, “It can be very challenging with these spikes that occur every couple months that force us to pull back to not do the things that are really important to us.” We have to be able to stop doing that for a short time until everyone is vaccinated.

Fauci stated Wednesday that he hoped the FDA would approve the vaccine for children under five in the coming month. However, he cautioned that there is no way to be certain. Because two doses of vaccine did not produce an adequate immune response for children aged 2-4 years in Pfizer clinical trials, younger children may need to be given three doses. Pfizer stated that it did not find any safety issues during trials of the doses for children, who are 3 micrograms in each.