Children and COVID-19 Research Library

Pregnant women are recommended to receive COVID-19 vaccination to reduce risk of severe COVID-19. Whether vaccination during pregnancy also provides passive protection to infants after birth remains unclear. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy was associated with reduced risk of COVID-19 in infants up to age 4 months during COVID-19 pandemic periods dominated by Delta and Omicron variants. This nationwide, register-based cohort study included all live-born infants born in Norway between September 1, 2021, and February 28, 2022.

COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection. A major concern of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women is vertical maternal-fetal transmission and the ramifications on infant hearing. This retrospective study aims to investigate whether perinatal exposure to SARS-CoV-2 has an impact on the hearing of the offspring. The study population included neonates born to unvaccinated COVID-19 positive mothers in the University Hospital of Patras, Greece from March 2020 to January 2021. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were performed on the neonates on the first, second,^, and seventh day of life. All neonates underwent transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) within the first three months of life and were all examined at the age of nine months.

Vaccine incentives have been used across the US to encourage COVID-19 vaccine uptake and include programs targeted to adolescents and young adults. However, little is known about youths’ views regarding these initiatives. To assess experiences and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccine incentives in a nationwide sample of US youth. A qualitative survey study was conducted using the MyVoice text message-based polling platform from October 22 to October 29, 2021. Participants were US adolescents and young adults aged 14 to 24 years, who were sent 5 open-ended questions to assess their experiences and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccine incentives. Qualitative responses were analyzed thematically. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed in January 2022.

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a surge in mental health needs among children. However, few analyses of these needs have included children and youths of all ages, and although studies have found a heightened risk for new onset of mental health conditions after a COVID-19 diagnosis among adults, none has investigated the potential risk among youths. Utilizing a large nationwide claims database, this study estimated the rate of new onset of mental health conditions among children and adolescents who had received a COVID-19 diagnosis but had no recent history of mental health problems.

This study aimed to estimate Covid-19 and pre-pandemic low respiratory infection (LRI) mortality in children and adolescents in Mexico. Materials and methods. It estimated the percentage of total mortality attributable to Covid-19 (95% confidence intervals; 95%CI) and made the corresponding estimates for pre-pandemic LRI mortality.

Long COVID-19 syndrome is a complex of symptoms that occurs after the acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, in the absence of other possible diagnoses. Studies on Long COVID-19 in pediatric population are scanty and heterogeneous in design, inclusion criteria, outcomes, and follow-up time. The objective of the present study is to assess the prevalence of Long COVID-19 syndrome in a cohort of Italian pediatric primary care patients, observed for a period of time of 8 to 36 weeks from healing. Prevalence was also assessed in a cohort of pediatric patients hospitalized during acute infection. Data concerning 629 primary care patients with previous acute SARS-CoV-2 infection were collected by a questionnaire filled in by Primary Care Pediatrician (PCP). The questionnaire was administrated to patients by 18 PCPs based in 8 different Italian regions from June to August 2021. Data concerning 60 hospitalized patients were also collected by consultation of clinical documents.

Parental vaccine hesitancy is a major barrier to achieving high vaccination uptake among children, particularly in young children during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Developing herd immunity is a critical concept for overcoming the current pandemic. The purpose of this study is to reduce parental vaccine hesitancy through a focused educational seminar in ZOOM and to empower parents who are concerned about vaccinating their children to communicate with medical experts during live seminars. Parents of preschoolers, teachers, and kindergarten principals from three local pre-school education and services associations attended live seminars. After attending seminars, parental willingness to vaccinate their children increased by 65%. The live Zoom seminar led by medical experts resulted in a decrease in vaccine hesitancy. Our findings support the creation of seminars that allow clients and medical specialists to communicate directly with one another. Offering an open and honest forum for people to express their concerns to medical experts could be a useful strategy for dealing with not only vaccination apprehension, but also other health-related emergencies.

Latinos have had higher case counts, hospitalization rates and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic nationally and in the state of California. Meanwhile, Latino vaccination rates remain lower than those of non-Hispanic Whites. COVID-19 vaccine nonintent, defined as intent to not vaccinate against COVID-19, among Latino individuals continues to be an issue in the state of California. Families from three Latino longitudinal mother–child cohorts previously recruited in the San Francisco Bay Area were surveyed telephonically from February to June 2021 to assess attitudes towards vaccination against COVID-19 and prior vaccination, in general, for themselves and their children. Risk for vaccine nonintent was assessed using the Mann–Whitney rank sum non-parametric test for continuous predictors and chi-squared tests for categorical ones.

Speech and debate (referred to hereafter as debate) has the potential to play an integral role in increasing the health literacy of secondary school students, yet we did not identify published studies examining the prevalence of debate programs in public and independent secondary schools. The purpose of this study was to describe the presence of debate in a probability sample of public and independent secondary schools in New York City (NYC) and explore whether there were differences in the availability of debate programs when schools were classified based on public versus independent status, school enrollment, borough location, and proportion of non-white students enrolled. The sampling frame was constructed using NYC Open Data for the public schools and the publicly available membership directory of the New York State Association of Independent Schools.

No available vaccine against COVID-19 had yet been proven for 12–17-year-olds in Egypt during the study period. This is the first study to assess Egyptian parents’ intentions and associated factors in relation to vaccinating their children with COVID-19 vaccines. A cross-sectional study using a questionnaire was conducted between 17 October and 17 November 2021, via social media platforms. The target group was parents with children aged 12–17 years. Parents’ intention to vaccinate their children and factors associated with vaccinating their children, reasons for not intending to vaccinate their children, and circumstances whereby the parents would change their mind were recorded. Among the 1458 parents recruited, 65.6% were planning to vaccinate their children. The main concerns were fear of the vaccine’s side-effects (68.3%) and conspiracy theories (18%). The factors associated with parents’ intention to vaccinate their children were mother’s older age (40–49 years: aOR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.05–1.99; ≥50 years: aOR = 2.09, 95% CI = 1.16–3.75), high family income (aOR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.41–2.79), and children with a history of chronic conditions (aOR = 2.02, 95% CI = 1.25–3.25), while higher mother’s education level was negatively associated (aOR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.27, 0.64). A comprehensive health education program regarding vaccinating children with COVID-19 vaccines is highly recommended for parents, particularly for young and highly educated mothers, to enhance children vaccination rate when the vaccine becomes available.

Israel was among the first countries to initiate adolescent COVID-19 vaccination. As adolescent vaccination requires parental consent, this study evaluated the factors associated with parents’ willingness to vaccinate their adolescents and their point of view regarding adolescents’ involvement in this decision. An online survey was completed by 581 parents of adolescents aged 16–18. The main independent variables included trust in the healthcare system, components of the Health Belief Model (HBM) and adolescents’ involvement in the decision, as well as background data, including demographics. Analysis included a multiple logistic regression and mediation examination. Parents reported that 446 adolescents (76.8%) have been or will soon be vaccinated against COVID-19, 12.2% chose not to vaccinate their child and 11% have not yet decided. Vaccination was significantly associated with HBM components and with adolescents’ involvement in the decision. The perceived vaccination benefits acted as a mediator in the association between parents’ COVID-19 perceived threat and adolescent vaccination, as well as between parents’ trust in the healthcare system and adolescent vaccination. Addressing vaccination benefits and barriers is pivotal in the attempt to enhance adolescents’ vaccination adherence. Considering the importance of adolescents’ involvement in the decision, addressing them directly may also be beneficial in improving vaccination rates.

Covid-19 vaccination campaigns for adolescents have been taking place in many countries for some months. The WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunisation have called for vaccine prioritisation within countries to take into account the needs of those groups that, due to underlying social, ethnic, geographic, or biomedical factors, are at greater risk of getting infected or suffering most severe consequences from covid-19. Since the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is considerably higher in prisons and detention facilities than elsewhere, adolescents who are detained in juvenile institutions should be prioritised for vaccination.