Pediatric COVID Surge Spurs Push for Vaccination as Regulators Await Trial Data

More than 50 news outlets nationwide published a report on the rise of COVID-19 infections among children, and the eligibility of young children to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. Timothy F. Murphy, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and senior associate dean for clinical and translational research, told the outlets that children might be less likely to suffer serious symptoms if infected, but there are still some dangers that appear to justify immunizing children. “I think we’re learning from all these hospitalizations that it is important to get that protection for children,” he said. “Even though the children tend to have milder disease ... when the number of children who get infected is very large, the small percentage of children who have more severe illnesses also increases.”