Deaths in children and young people (CYP) following SARS-CoV-2 infection are extremely rare. During the pandemic, the mandatory UK National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) was linked to Public Health England (PHE) testing data to identify CYP (<18 years) who died with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test. A clinical review of all deaths from March 2020 to February 2021 was undertaken to differentiate between those who died of SARS-CoV-2 infection and those who died of an alternative cause but coincidentally tested positive. Then, using linkage to national hospital admission data, demographic and comorbidity details of CYP who died of SARS-CoV-2 were compared to all other deaths. Absolute risk of death was estimated where denominator data were available.
3105 CYP died from all causes during the first pandemic year in England. 61 of these deaths occurred in CYP who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. 25 CYP died of SARS-CoV-2 infection; 22 from acute infection and three from PIMS-TS. 99·995% of CYP with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test survived. The 25 CYP who died of SARS-CoV-2 equates to a mortality rate of 2/million for the 12,023,568 CYP living in England. CYP >10 years, of Asian and Black ethnic backgrounds, and with comorbidities were over-represented compared to other children (read more here).
The conclusion for this important study is that:
“SARS-CoV-2 is very rarely fatal in Children and Young People, even among those with underlying comorbidities.”
None of the clinical studies of the Covid-19 Vaccines inlcuded children and young people so there were no data from clinical studies available at all for the absoulte risk of adverse reactions for CYP.
But now – as more and more younger people are receiving the Covid-19 Vaccines – there is now a substantial increase in the frequency of adverse events reporting to all reporting systems worldwide. This includes reports of fatal cardiovascular events and frequent reporting of epicarditis and myocarditis in children and young people as shown in a recent pre-print publication.
This retrospective epidemiological assessment reviewed reports filed to the US-CDC Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) between January 1, 2021, and June 18, 2021, among adolescents ages 12-17 who received mRNA vaccination against COVID-19. The authorsfound that Post-vaccination CAE rate was highest in young boys aged 12-15 following dose two. For boys 12-17 without medical comorbidities, the likelihood of post vaccination dose two of 162.2 and 94.0/million respectively. This incidence exceeds their expected 120-day COVID-19 hospitalization rate at both moderate (August 21, 2021 rates) and high COVID-19 hospitalization incidence. Other anectodal reports are now showing a much higher rate.
As the risk of hospitalization in healthy children and young people is negligent and close to zero – any serious adverse event in these age groups is of grave concern and where, in particular, the frequent reporting of Myocarditis is of very concerning.
Children, coercive consent & COVID-19 vaccines – report from the HART Group.