CDC: CHILD COVID-19 INFECTIONS HIGHER IN LOW-VACCINATION STATES

Vaccines work. And if you’re too young to be vaccinated, wear a mask and make sure everyone else around you is vaccinated.

That was the underlying finding of a pair of CDC studies released Friday. Hospitalizations and emergency room visits by children with COVID-19 were much higher in states with low vaccination rates.

According to one study, hospitalization rates of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 were 10 times higher in the unvaccinated states compared with those with higher percentages of residents who were fully vaccinated, CDC found.

But the proportion of young children with severe disease was generally similar compared with those earlier in the pandemic. In other words: more children have COVID-19, because there is more disease in the community.

Another study looked at national cases, emergency room visits and hospitalizations and found that in August 2021, the rate of hospitalization for children was nearly four times higher in states with the lowest overall vaccination coverage when compared to states with high overall vaccination coverage.