Children and COVID-19 Research Library

Given the urgent global need for vaccinating individuals of all ages against the COVID-19 pandemic, understanding the extent and reasons for parents’ willingness to get their children vaccinated is important. This study used an internet-based questionnaire survey to determine parents’ willingness to get their children (0 to 15 years) vaccinated in Japan and was conducted in April 2021 before COVID-19 vaccination for children began. Socio-demographic information, information about parents’ willingness to get children vaccinated, reasons for their responses, and parents’ willingness to get themselves vaccinated were obtained. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate parents’ willingness to get children vaccinated based on the other variables.

This study’s goal was to characterize the utility of symptom screening in staff and students for COVID-19 identification and control of transmission in a school setting. It conducted a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data for staff, students and associated household members in a Georgia school district exposed to COVID-19 cases who received RT-PCR testing and symptom monitoring. Among positive contacts, 30/49 (61%) of students and 1/6 (17%) of staff reported no symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Symptom sensitivity was 30% in elementary students and 42% in middle/high students. Fifty-three percent (10/19) of symptomatic positive contacts had at least one household member test positive for SARS-CoV-2 compared with 50% (10/20) of asymptomatic positive contacts. The absence of symptoms in children is not indicative of a lack of SARS-CoV-2 infection or reduced risk of infection for associated household members. Testing all close contacts of people with COVID-19 in schools is needed to interrupt transmission networks.

Safe, effective SARS-CoV-2 treatment has not yet been determined, though some drugs have favourable mortality and morbidity benefits in specific situations. No treatments have been explicitly tested in children, who are, therefore, once again therapeutic orphans. We echo calls to enrol patients, including children, into trials but note children recruited to date have been additions to adult studies. Few were recruited during the initial pandemic despite the emergence of PIMS-TS/MIS-C, which surely demanding paediatric-specific research.

Scalable programs for school-based SARS-CoV-2 testing and surveillance are needed to guide in-person learning practices and inform risk assessments in kindergarten through 12th grade settings. To characterize SARS-CoV-2 infections in staff and students in an urban public school setting and evaluate test-based strategies to support ongoing risk assessment and mitigation for kindergarten through 12th grade in-person learning. This pilot quality improvement program engaged 3 schools in Omaha, Nebraska, for weekly saliva polymerase chain reaction testing of staff and students participating in in-person learning over a 5-week period from November 9 to December 11, 2020. Wastewater, air, and surface samples were collected weekly and tested for SARS-CoV-2 RNA to evaluate surrogacy for case detection and interrogate transmission risk of in-building activities.

The locations where children get exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection and their contribution in spreading the infection are still not fully understood. Aim of the article is to verify the most frequent reasons for SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and their role in the secondary transmission of the infection. A case-control study was performed in all SARS-CoV-2 positive children (n = 81) and an equal number of age- and sex- matched controls who were referred to the S. Camillo-Forlanini Pediatric Walk-in Center of Rome. The results of all SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal swabs performed in children aged < 18 years from October 16 to December 19, 2020 were analyzed.

It is not yet clear to what extent SARS-CoV-2 infection rates in children reflect community transmission, nor whether infection rates differ between primary schoolchildren and young teenagers. A cross-sectional serosurvey compared the SARS-CoV2 attack-rate in a sample of 362 children recruited from September 21 to October 6, 2020, in primary (ages 6–12) or lower secondary school (ages 12–15) in a municipality with low community transmission (Pelt) to a municipality with high community transmission (Alken) in Belgium. Children were equally distributed over grades and regions. Blood samples were tested for the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Vaccine hesitancy seriously hinders herd immunity. This study explored the determinants of parental hesitancy to vaccinate children against Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China. A population-based self-administered online questionnaire evaluating parental hesitancy in vaccinating their children against COVID-19 was conducted in Taizhou, China. Of the 2463 parents who received the invitation, 1788 (72.6%) responded to the survey.

This study aims to report the experience with COVID-19 in children with cancer at the largest tertiary-cancer care and referral center in India. This study is a single tertiary center experience on COVID-19 in children with cancer and continuation of cancer-directed therapy in them. Children ≤ 15 y on active cancer treatment detected with COVID-19 until September 15th, 2020 were prospectively followed up in the study. Patients were managed in accordance with well-laid guidelines. Treatment was continued for children with COVID-19 who were clinically stable and on intensive treatment for various childhood cancers.

SARS-CoV-2 infection of children leads to a mild illness and the immunological differences with adults are unclear. Here, we report SARS-CoV-2 specific T cell responses in infected adults and children and find that the acute and memory CD4+ T cell responses to structural SARS-CoV-2 proteins increase with age, whereas CD8+ T cell responses increase with time post-infection. Infected children have lower CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 structural and ORF1ab proteins when compared with infected adults, comparable T cell polyfunctionality and reduced CD4+ T cell effector memory. Compared with adults, children have lower levels of antibodies to β-coronaviruses, indicating differing baseline immunity. Total T follicular helper responses are increased, whilst monocyte numbers are reduced, indicating rapid adaptive co-ordination of the T and B cell responses and differing levels of inflammation. Therefore, reduced prior β-coronavirus immunity and reduced T cell activation in children might drive milder COVID-19 pathogenesis.

Pregnancy is an immune-suppressed state which makes pregnant women generally more susceptible to COVID-19 infection and severe illness. Extensive precautions have been recommended to avoid exposure to the virus. Knowledge and attitude toward the disease play an integral role in readiness to accept public health measures. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in three Wollega zones, Ethiopia. Institution-based cross-sectional study was employed among 415 pregnant women attending antenatal care at public hospitals in three Wollega zones, Ethiopia from July to August 2020.

There is uncertainty with respect to SARS-CoV-2 transmission in children (0-19 years) with controversy on effectiveness of school-closures in controlling the pandemic. It is of equal importance to evaluate the risk of transmission in children who are often asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic carriers that may incidentally transmit SARS-CoV-2 in different settings. This review aims to assess transmission and risks for SARS-CoV-2 in children (by agegroups or grades) in community and educational-settings compared to adults. Data for the review were retrieved from PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, WHO COVID-19 Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) Database, WanFang Database, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS), Google Scholar, and preprints from medRixv and bioRixv) covering a timeline from December 1, 2019 to April 1, 2021.