U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ((CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky Friday urged parents to vaccinate their adolescent children against COVID-19, as her agency released a study detailing a spike in youth hospitalizations.
The CDC study shows that the number of 12 to 17-year-olds hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States spiked from January to April of this year. One third of those hospitalized were admitted to intensive care units and five percent of them were put on ventilators. There were no deaths reported.In a statement Friday, Walensky said she was saddened by those numbers, which she says shows the virus can cause a severe reaction even among young people. She said the trend is easily preventable and the study should provide even more motivation to get adolescents and young adults vaccinated.
The CDC director urged not only parents, but “relatives and close friends to join me and talk with teens” about the importance of prevention strategies and to encourage vaccination.
The study suggests the increased hospitalization rates among adolescents might be related, in part, to circulation of variant strains of the virus that cause COVID-19, the larger numbers of children returning to school or other in-person indoor activities, and changes in physical distancing and the wearing of masks.
Last month, the U.S Food and Drug Administration ((FDA)) authorized the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as a safe and effective vaccine in preventing disease and hospitalization among adolescents.
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