'We are hospitalizing record numbers of children,' a New Orleans doctor tells ABC News. 'Half of the children in our hospital today are under two years of age. Most of the others are between five and ten years of age—too young to be vaccinated just yet.'
Some of the worst numbers are in Louisiana and Florida but could get worse elsewhere fast as public health officials express concerns with the highly contagious delta variant amid continued vaccine hesitancy.
Dr. Marcos Mestre, the hospital's vice president and chief medical officer, told ABC News that in recent weeks, his teams have seen a"significant uptick" in pediatric COVID-19 cases. He said some children are alone in the hospital because their parents, also unvaccinated, are battling COVID-19 at another hospital.
It comes as the country's daily case average for Americans increased to nearly 100,000 cases a day for the past four days -- up by 31.7% in the last week and nearly nine times higher than the average was in mid-June. For children 17 and under, the rate of pediatric hospital admissions per capita is 3.75 times higher than it was just a month ago -- now equal to its highest point of the pandemic, in January 2021.
"We understand that the FDA has recently worked with Pfizer and Moderna to double the number of children ages 5-11 years included in clinical trials of their COVID-19 vaccines. While we appreciate this prudent step to gather more safety data, we urge FDA to carefully consider the impact of this decision on the timeline for authorizing a vaccine for this age group," wrote Dr. Lee Savio Beers, president of the AAP.
"We know that [COVID] can be severe in children, and so we should do those things that we need to do to help prevent the spread and help keep our kids and our whole community safe," she added.
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