Missouri girl spent 5 days on oxygen, illustrating growing problem of unvaccinated children against Covid-19



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Baker told CNN that Marionna’s symptoms started on July 26 with headaches and a feeling of tiredness. Things shifted into high gear on August 2 when she said she couldn’t breathe. But after a trip to emergency care and a prescription for medication, Baker said her daughter couldn’t breathe at all the next day.

She took Marionna to the emergency room, where a doctor told her she was taken to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, about a 2.5-hour drive from Baker and her daughter in the south. Missouri. Baker said she followed her daughter in an ambulance because she was not allowed to accompany them due to Covid protocols.

“I was just praying that she would know that I am behind her and that she will get here safely,” Baker said.

While she is now better, Baker said she regrets letting Marionna decide for herself not to be vaccinated and warned other parents to get their eligible children vaccinated.
“Get yourself a vaccine so you don’t have to be in a hospital bed (and) not be able to breathe,” Marionna told CNN in tears.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that children 12 and older get vaccinated, according to the CDC website. Despite this, Doctors and nurses at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital told CNN they were seeing more severe cases of Covid-19 in children and worried the situation would only get worse as school begins and as the winter months approach.
Why a Covid-19 vaccine is not yet available for children
Missouri currently has more than 716,000 cases of Covid statewide and more than 10,000 deaths, according to CNN’s Covid Tracker. The state currently has more than 3,000 cases among 0 to 9 year olds and more than 13,000 among 10 to 19 year olds, according to the State Department of Health and Elderly Services.

Dr Wail Hayajneh, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the children’s hospital, said doctors recently saw 10 to 15 children each day with Covid-19 and none of them are vaccinated.

What makes it even worse, he said, is that children will stay sick with Covid-19 for a very long time, with some even developing multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) – a disease that affects the heart, lungs. , kidneys and brain as well as other organs.

Hayajneh said the hospital had seen 22 cases of MIS since the start of the pandemic.

“I am very sad because in pediatrics we believe in prevention, as a person with infectious diseases I think prevention is at the heart of infectious disease treatment. Prevention is cheap, prevention is achievable , prevention in the United States is within our reach and we are not doing it, ”he said.

Dr Aline Tanios, medical director of the hospital’s surgical unit, said things were certainly much worse than last year around this time, when there were very few cases of Covid-19. Now, she said the hospital is overflowing with children with respiratory problems and blood clots linked to Covid-19.

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“It’s scary sometimes, especially when you see these kids collapsing before they head to the intensive care unit,” she said.

For Clarissa Capp, registered nurse, she is not only frustrated but also heartbroken for the children as the most crucial years of their lives are spent in masks and learning from a distance, which can contribute to mental health issues. .

“It really hurts me because I wish they could experience the childhood that I lived and I hope future children can come back to it,” she said.

For Marionna, the 14-year-old who spent five days on oxygen, she says she didn’t think it was necessary to get the vaccine. Her mother, Baker, said she didn’t push Marionna to get the shot because she herself was nervous, but eventually got the shot because of her underlying health issues.

Marionna is now recovering at home and won’t be eligible for the vaccine for 90 days, his mother said.

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