Hospitals see spike in pediatric COVID-19 cases
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The omicron variant is infecting children as the country experiences a surge in COVID cases. Doctors in Tampa Bay are seeing a jump in the number of children coming to the hospital with COVID-19, including children under 5 who aren’t eligible for the vaccine.
"Last week, all week we had 38 kids who tested positive for COVID, this week 246. So that's over a six-fold increase in number of kids testing positive," said Dr. Juan Dumois, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday that children 4 years old and younger are testing positive and being admitted into hospitals about double the rate than a month ago and three times the rate of the same time in 2021. Kids under 5 years old can’t get the COVID vaccine yet.
Dr. Dumois said scientists are trying to work out the right dose for the youngest.
"Initially, a recent report suggested a bit of a setback in that in one of the studies, the vaccine did not work as well as it's hoped at the doses that were used in the children under five. So they need to keep studying it to find a dose of the vaccines, particularly the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccines, that works the best with fewer side effects in this age group," said Dumois.
How to tell the different between the cold and COVID
If you have the sniffles, a cough or a slight headache, it can be difficult to decipher whether you have a cold or COVID-19 since symptoms overlap. One Tampa doctor gives some advice on how to tell the difference and when its best to get tested for COVID-19.
Doctors said the vaccine trials in children 4 and younger are promising overall.
"They are responding really well to the vaccine, and it seems that they are really presenting with good immunogenicity and having a really strong response to the vaccine, which is exactly what we want," said Dr. Claudia Espinosa, an associate professor at USF Health and a pediatric infectious diseases attending doctor at Tampa General Hospital.
But neither FDA nor the CDC are reviewing applications for emergency use yet. Espinosa said she believes the process will start this spring and hopes for a vaccine for the youngest children by the middle of the year.
Until those children can get the shot, doctors said the recent trend underscores an important point.
"I think a good way to protect our kids, all the kids is just vaccinating the adults and every child that is that the vaccine is available for that group of age. So that way, we can build that immunity," said Espinosa.
Dumois said he believes Tampa Bay is not over the peak of omicron yet, and so hospitals are preparing in case they see more patients.
Since there’s no COVID shot from the youngest children yet, doctors said it’s important for them to catch up on their other vaccines.