(NewsNation Now) — COVID-19 is sending record numbers of children to the hospital – many of them unvaccinated, experts say.
During the week of Dec. 22-28, an average of 378 children 17 and under were admitted per day to hospitals with the coronavirus, a 66% increase from the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.
The previous high over the course of the pandemic was in early September, when child hospitalizations averaged 342 per day, the CDC said.
The increased hospitalizations are occurring alongside a surge of the highly transmissible omicron variant, which the CDC estimated made up 59% of all cases last week.
Although children continue to represent a small percentage of all patients hospitalized with COVID-19, the coming weeks could prove challenging.
“We know that respiratory viruses get worse in the week or two after children go back after the holidays and this even happened with respiratory viruses before COVID,” Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital infectious disease Dr. Allison Messina said. “So we know that that’s a definite risk. If you can test your children before they go to school, that’s great, and I think that that would go a long way to prevent in cases.”
Two months after vaccinations were approved for 5- to 11-year-olds, about 14% are fully protected, CDC data shows. The rate is higher for 12- to 17-year-olds, at about 53%.
A study released Thursday by the CDC confirmed that serious side effects from the Pfizer vaccine in children ages 5 to 11 are rare. The findings were based on approximately 8 million doses dispensed to youngsters in that age group.
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday drove home the point that much serious illness in children is preventable through the COVID-19 vaccine.
“You almost have to say it’s the responsibility of the parent to protect their child,” Fauci said Thursday on NewsNation’s “Morning in America.”
Although it’s true that children are less likely than adults, particularly the elderly, to become seriously ill from COVID-19, it does happen, Fauci said.
“All you have to do is go to any pediatric hospital right now virtually anywhere in the country and you see children there who are suffering, some even dying, who need not be in that situation if they were vaccinated,” Fauci said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.