Scientists say vaccinating kids should not only slow coronavirus spread but also help prevent dangerous variants from emerging.
, a virology expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, likens infections to “lottery tickets that we’re giving the virus.” The jackpot? A variant even more dangerous than the contagious Delta currently circulating.
“The fewer people who are infected, the less lottery tickets it has and the better off we’re all going to be in terms of generating the variants,” he said, adding that variants are even more likely to emerge in people with weakened immune systems who harbor the virus for a long time.Unleashing a fast-spreading coronavirus variant on a half-vaccinated population can lead to a vaccine-resistant strain.
Researchers disagree on how much kids have influenced the course of the pandemic. Early research suggested they didn’t contribute much to viral spread. But some experts say children played a significant role this year spreading contagious variants, such as Alpha and Delta.COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub
, a collection of university and medical research organizations that consolidates models of how the pandemic may unfold. The hub’s latest estimates show that for this November through March 12, 2022, vaccinating 5- to 11-year-olds would avert about 430,000 cases in the overall U.S. population if no new variant arose. If a variant 50% more transmissible than Delta showed up in late fall, 860,000 cases would be averted — “a big impact,” said project co-leader
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