Only SIX healthy children died of Covid during England's first year of the 'pandemic'

Only six healthy children died of Covid during England's first year of the pandemic, an analysis of NHS data has found. 

Experts found a total of 25 youngsters died from the virus between March 2020 and February 2021. But the majority had underlying health conditions which made them vulnerable to the virus.

Of the six healthy children which died four were killed by the virus itself, while two succumbed to the Kawasaki-like disease called Paediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome Temporally (PIMS-TS). 

Considering the 12million children in England, the researchers say this gives healthy children a one in 500,000 chance of dying from the virus.

This roughly the same as their odds of being admitted to intensive care if they catch the virus.

The latest data casts further and irrefutable doubt on arguments to vaccinate children to protect them from the virus and of shutting schools, with the authors noting the dangers of depriving children from education and social activities could be greater than the virus itself. 

Study author Professor Russell Viner, an expert in child and adolescent health from University College London, said the findings demonstrated the comparatively small risk Covid posed to children.

'There were only 25 deaths in this age-group from Covid in the year, compared with over 100,000 amongst adults,' he said.   

'Any death of a child is one too many — but we sadly must recognise there are over 3,000 deaths of children and young people in England in ordinary years.' 

Professor Viner also said the majority of the children that did die from Covid were vulnerable to similar diseases that circulate during the year. 

Of the 25 children that died the majority (72 per cent) were over 10, with 15 having a life-limiting condition and 16 having two or more comorbidities.  

While 61 children in total were recorded as having died of Covid in the initial analysis of data, the researchers found the virus had only contributed to the death in 25.

In total, the study found Covid contributed to 0.8 per cent of total deaths of children in the timeframe of the study.

In comparison, 124 children died from suicide and there 268 deaths from trauma.

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