Children Head Back to School Amid an Ongoing Pandemic That Has Had Significant Effects on Their Health and Well-Being

As students return to classroom school this fall, a new KFF contract highlights the impact of the ongoing pandemic on the health and wellbeing of children, including missed routine vaccinations and preventive care, mental health issues, and economic setbacks that can impact health .

As of July 29, 2021, there were over 4 million COVID-19 cases in children, with children accounting for an increasing proportion of new cases due to the delta variant. At the same time, eligible children (12 years and older) have lower COVID-19 vaccination rates than the adult population, and elementary school children are still not eligible for a vaccine.

While experts generally agree that the benefits of classroom schooling outweigh the risks of the virus, the health care disruptions, mental health issues, and economic hardships from COVID-19 all have an impact on children's health, and some children may need it extra support during their transition back to school.

The most important findings of the new analysis include high rates of interruptions in routine vaccinations or preventive care, as well as difficult access to medical care. According to the KFF analysis of the household pulse survey of 23rd 2021. The use of telemedicine has increased, but is not enough to compensate for the overall decline in service use.

Households with children also experienced significantly higher economic hardships than households without children during the pandemic. Of the adults who reported loss of income in the past 4 weeks, 91 percent of adults with children in the household said they had difficulty paying expenses in the past week, and 20 percent said they had no confidence in their ability have to make housing payments for the next month; and 32 percent reported food shortages – all rates higher than for adults living in households without children. Blacks, Hispanics and other colored people are disproportionately affected by the economic impact of the pandemic.

The full analysis Back to School Amid the New Normal: Ongoing Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Children's Health and Wellbeing, as well as other data and analysis on COVID-19, are available at kff.org.