Unvaccinated children suffering the most

The omicron variant and fourth wave of Covid infections have revealed a hair-raising statistic: more children are being hospitalised.

Public health specialist at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases Dr Waasila Jassat shed some light on the new infections in young children.

She said there were a few reasons for the spike in hospitalisations among adults and children.

At the start of a wave, more beds are available and patients who displayed mild symptoms may have been admitted. Beds may not be available later on, and the figures will then decrease.

Anti-vaxxers at higher risk

While it’s still too early to say for certain if there is an immunity gap between those who have been inoculated and those who have not, unvaccinated children appear to be at higher risk.

The data from one hospital showed all children who were admitted had not been vaccinated. In fact, most of the children’s parents were unvaccinated as well.

Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla has called on South Africans to get vaccinated, not only for their own safety but for their children’s as well.

Why are more women admi ed?

Jassat said it’s “nothing new to see more women” being admitted to hospital during a Covid wave; it has been that way throughout the pandemic.

She cited a variety of reasons for this: most frontline workers are women and face higher levels of exposure than men due to their occupations.

She said it could also be that women generally are more likely to get tested, seek medical help or get vaccinated.

Despite the high number of women in hospital, Jassat said the mortality risk has been higher among South African men.

The severity of omicron

It will take time for “admissions to unfold and for severity measures” to be put in place.

She said severity is always low during the early stages of a wave, but will get higher as the wave progresses.

While patients infected with the omicron variant still exhibited mild symptoms at this stage, more data is needed to confirm whether it is a definite characteristic of the variant.

Researchers will be able to approximate in the coming weeks if the severity of the omicron variant is different during the fourth wave, when compared to variants driving the previous waves.