Children ‘forgotten by Covid policymakers’ because they rarely got sick from the virus

Children were forgotten by policymakers during Covid lockdowns because they rarely got seriously ill from the virus itself, a report has found.

Infants, children and teenagers endured numerous lockdowns during their most formative years, despite accounting for a diminutive proportion of Covid hospitalisations and deaths.

A group led by University College London (UCL) found that because the elderly and vulnerable were more likely to get sick and die, the development and well-being of children were deprioritised.

UCL scientists created a paper looking at the impact of the coronavirus global health emergency on children worldwide, specifically in England, Brazil and South Africa.

It found that politicians did not consider children and young people a “priority group” when English lockdowns were enforced. Large policy gaps were created as a result of the ad-hoc and ever-changing nature of the lockdowns, which the scientists say disproportionately affected children.

The impact of lockdowns on children and the knock-on effects are expected to feature heavily in the Covid inquiry which last week heard from ex-Prime Minister David Cameron and former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

This week Matt Hancock - the health secretary when Covid emerged - will give evidence, as will Nicola Sturgeon.

The report found that childhood access to food, education, the internet and playtime was curbed, and schemes to fix the flaws “took too long to be equally implemented”.

“What is apparent is that the voices of children and young people in England were mostly ignored during the pandemic as this age group was not considered as a priority nor ‘at-risk’ from a public health perspective,” the report states.

“In a context where the response to Covid-19 has been driven by science but also politics, strategies and policies in the future need to adequately consider, and include, children and young people’s priorities.

“Children, young people and the most vulnerable of this group need to be engaged more thoroughly to tackle resilience and social justice.”

They add that the impact of closing schools and keeping children inside their homes for days on end will be felt for decades and in myriad ways, many of which will not be apparent for years to come.

“The impact of the pandemic will have detrimental consequences for children and young people in the short and long-term, with many not yet visible,” the report said.

“It will have continuing consequences for their future in terms of professional life trajectories, healthy lifestyles, mental well-being, educational opportunities, self-confidence and more besides.”

A heavy toll

Many children before Covid did not have computers at home as all education was done in schools and it is estimated that a quarter of children had no internet access during Covid.

This not only impacted their education but also their social sphere and shut them off from the world outside their home.

Closing schools also cut children off from their free school meals, which was problematic for many lower-income families who struggled to foot the bill - an overlooked consequence of school closures policymakers did not anticipate, the report said.

The cost of living, in tandem with lockdowns, also inflicted a heavy toll on society’s youngest.

Lockdown restrictions meant families were limited to shopping at small corner shops and local butchers and bakers, for example, which are more expensive than large supermarkets, making it harder for families to buy enough nutritious food for children.

A previous study from the UKHSA found that 20 healthy children and teenagers died of Covid-19 in the first two years of the pandemic, with a child having just a 0.0007 per cent chance of dying from Covid infection.

A total of 81 young people died of Covid and 61 of these people had pre-existing health conditions, with most of them being severe, life-limiting co-morbidities.

Prof Shamez Ladhani, a paediatric infectious diseases specialist who is also a consultant epidemiologist at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), told The Telegraph last year this work shows Covid was “a very rare cause of death in children” and “the message is that healthy children don’t really die of Covid”.

Professor Lauren Andres, lead author of the report at UCL, said: “Covid exposed and exacerbated inequalities that already existed prior to the pandemic.

“Children and young people’s voices and needs were not heard and accounted for.

“Our research shows that because of policy gaps and slow government action during the pandemic, disadvantaged children and young people are now facing serious consequences that could be with them for a long time, both here in the UK and around the world.”