Idaho health officials say the new Covid vaccine for younger children comes just as they’re receiving reports of new cases of a Covid-related infection in kids.
Deputy state epidemiologist Kathryn Turner says multisystem inflammatory syndrome causes inflammation in organs such as the brain and heart. She says it has been identified in 37 Idaho children who had Covid, recovered, then fell ill again. Their average age was eight-and-a-half.
“I cared for one young boy who had a very mild illness, and then came back to office four weeks later extremely sick, and like many kids with MIS-C required hospitalization and extensive treatment," said Boise pediatrician Dr. Lisa Barker.
More than half of the children suffering from it were moved to hospital intensive care units.
Idaho state officials say, of the Covid cases reported in the general population in October, seven percent were in children between the ages of 5 and 11.