United States: With 2023, there were many instances of MIS-C which is a rare and dangerous inflammatory condition in children, wherein unvaccinated children were mainly affected.
Such evidence indicates that immunization plays the vital role of protection against disease in children.
MIS-C and involved risks
As stated by the CDC, the virus MIS-C has the capacity to affect all the different parts of the body that are essential for life, which includes the lungs, heart, brain, and kidneys.
The patient usually develops symptoms of the infection within two to six weeks following the exposure, with the disease being severe enough sometimes to warrant hospitalization.
CDC researchers and health departments studied the MIS-C cases reported in 2023 and made a comparison between these cases and those that were earlier in the pandemic.
They have proved that despite a decrease in cases after the highest peak in late 2020 and early 2021, a new rise in span of cases happened in the fall of 2023, the same period US COVID-19 activity was at the heights.
Total MIS-C cases
In 2023, 117 MIS-C cases were reported, with a quarter of them occurring between August and October. Dr. John Brownstein from Boston Children’s Hospital noted that while the numbers have decreased, MIS-C remains a risk, especially after COVID-19 surges.
The mean age of MIS-C patients in 2023 was 7, younger than the median age of 5 seen from February 2020 to January 2022. Most patients did not have underlying conditions before contracting MIS-C, but obesity was a common preexisting condition among those who did.
Many children with MIS-C were critically ill, requiring extended hospitalization or medical treatment. The analysis showed that more than half of them needed intensive care, and a significant portion experienced shock or cardiac dysfunction.
Vaccination of the disease
Many of the subjects would have been qualified to receive COVID-19 vaccines during their condition, but the most part had not yet been vaccinated. Most of them had scheduled immunization over a year before that.
In Dr. Brownstein’s words, vaccination is still greatly helpful especially in decreasing the severity and risk of complications from COVID-19 which may arise in children.