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Such paediatric hospitalizations might seem concerning, but estimates show that the individual risk of a child with Omicron being hospitalized is, in fact, lower — by one-third to one-half — than it was when the Delta variant was dominant. And hospitalized children are not presenting with any more severe illness than they were with other variants, says Michael Absoud, a specialist in women and children’s health at King’s College London.
Omicron is less likely to cause severe illness in all age groups. But another possible explanation for the data is that Omicron’s multitude of mutations has made the illness different and perhaps slightly more serious in younger children than in adult populations, says Andrew Pavia, head of the division of paediatric infectious diseases at University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City.
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