Child Covid infections are rising in England – is low vaccine rate a factor?

Covid cases in the UK have fallen sharply in the past few weeks, and hospital admissions appeared to have turned a corner. But now, it seems, the situation has stalled, with cases bobbing around 90,000 a day. The reason for the change is that while case rates are falling among adults, they are rising among children – where vaccination rates remain sluggish. According to data for England, the rate of new cases for every 100,000 people fell from 1,430.4 among 60- to 64-year-olds in the rolling seven-day period to 1 January, to 529.3 in the rolling seven-day period to 19 January. However, they rose from 941.6 to 2,384.1 for children aged five to nine during the same period, and from 1,230 to 1,909.7 for children aged 10 to 14.