Unvaccinated babies were more likely to be hospitalized with Covid this summer than most age groups, the CDC says

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, infants too young to be vaccinated were hospitalized with Covid-19 more often than any other age group except the elderly during the omicron BA.5 wave this summer.

In a report released Thursday, the CDC found that hospitalizations among infants under six months of age increased elevenfold from April to July of this year, when omicron BA.2 and then BA.5 were the predominant variants in circulation.

The average weekly hospitalization rate among young infants was about 13.7 per 100,000 during this period. This was about the same as for patients aged 65 to 74, at 13.8 per 100,000. It was more common than all other children and adults under 65, according to the CDC report.

Fortunately, the increase in hospitalizations among young infants was not associated with increased severity. In fact, length of hospital stay and the proportion of admissions requiring intensive care were actually lower among omicron than when the delta variant predominated, the report found.

According to the CDC, the jump in hospitalizations among young infants is due to high transmission of the virus in the community during the omicron. Even the threshold for accepting young babies is much lower than older children. Adolescents and adults younger than 65 also had greater immunity from vaccination, infection, or both, which likely lowered their hospitalization rates, according to the report.

The report’s authors said the increased rate of hospitalizations underscores the importance of pregnant mothers staying up-to-date on their covid vaccines, including the new omicron BA.5 booster. Babies under six months of age are the only age group in the US that is not eligible for vaccinations.

According to the CDC, two doses of the covid vaccine given to a mother during pregnancy are about 52 percent effective in preventing hospitalization in babies younger than six months. This is likely due to the transfer of the mother’s vaccine-induced protective antibodies to the fetus during pregnancy.

The CDC and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend vaccination against covid for women who are pregnant, trying to conceive or breastfeeding.

Young infants born during omicron BA.5’s dominant period may have had less protection from the disease because many mothers received vaccines before pregnancy and immunity weakened as more time passed since the last dose, the report said. Furthermore, BA.5 and other emerging variants are simply more adept at evading the protection afforded by vaccines.

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