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Why young children are more likely to spread COVID | Health Beat with Brea Love

Our ABC10 Health Expert explains why young children are more likely to spread COVID-19.

CALIFORNIA, USA — Research shows young children are more likely to spread COVID-19, especially those younger than three. 

ABC10 Health Expert Dr. Payal Kohli said that it is because young kids touch their faces a lot more often. They spend time closer to other people and can't keep the same level of hygiene that older children can. 

Dr. Kohli said the delta variant is tricky when it comes to kids because we know the variant is substantially more contagious.

"When we're very young, especially at that young age, our immune systems are different. They're very what we call naive. They're not trained to fight off the infection as well. So, if we have more infection inside, yeah. We spread more infection to others," Kohli said. 

Pfizer expects to know more about a vaccine for children younger than five by the end of the year. It just recently declared its vaccine safe for children between 5 and 11-years-old. The FDA would need to approve that before children could get the shot. Pfizer expects that to come in November. 

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