Dr. VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog said COVID-19 in children is often asymptomatic and seldom requires hospitalization. However, it is possible that a small percentage of children who get infected may need hospitalization, he added. Paul informed that adequate arrangements are being made by the Centre in terms of healthcare infrastructure in order to provide effective care and treatment to children who may get infected.
This comes after several questions were raised regarding higher vulnerability of children to get adversely impacted by COVID-19 during the subsequent waves, if any.
Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi also stated that there is no data, either from India or globally, to show that children will be seriously infected in subsequent waves.
Giving further clarification on the issue, he said that healthy children recovered with mild illness without need for hospitalization while the ones admitted in the hospital due to COVID-19 infection during the second wave in India either had co-morbidities or low immunity.
Meanwhile, Dr NK Arora, Chairperson of the COVID-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) has said that Covaxin trials have been started on children aged between 2–18 years and the results for the same will be received by September to October this year. He added that children may catch the infection, but they will not get seriously ill.
