As children and adolescents are returning to school after summer holidays, their role in the transmission of COVID-19 is again highly relevant, as this is the age group with the lowest rate of COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the EU/EEA.
At the beginning of the year, children made up a small proportion of COVID-19 cases in the reported data. According to data from The European Surveillance System (TESSy), between 4 January and 20 June 2021, children aged 1 to11 years and 12 to 18 years represented 8.5% and 6.6% of cases, respectively.
However, increased transmissibility across all age groups has been reported recently for SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, most notably the Delta variant. In regions where an increasing percentage of adults are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 but children are not vaccinated, it may be anticipated that in the coming months greater proportions of reported COVID-19 cases will be among children.
Children of all ages are susceptible to and can transmit COVID-19, but cases in younger children still appear to lead to onward transmission less frequently than cases in older children and adults. Children tend to have a much lower risk of developing symptoms or severe disease than adults, and children only rarely suffer from severe COVID-19 with pneumonia and respiratory insufficiency.
In this context, countries can use scientific evidence to develop approaches to appropriately balance the broader physical and mental health needs of children and adolescents, while ensuring adequate COVID-19 prevention and control in this population. The second update of the publication COVID-19 in children and the role of school settings in transmission addresses transmission to and from staff in school settings, school-related mitigation measures (including risk communication), testing, contact tracing and the effectiveness and impacts of school closures.
Andrea Ammon, Director of ECDC
