Children aged 0–14 years had a far lower mortality risk during the entire COVID-19 pandemic in four major industrial countries: an observational study

The purpose of this study is to describe the morbidity and mortality of children during the entire COVID-19 pandemic. Age-disaggregated data of 108,003,741 cases and 560,426 deaths were collected from Canada, France, Germany, and Italy. The number of cases and deaths per million people per week, as well as case fatality rates (CFRs), were calculated for patients aged 0–14 and ≥ 15 years. During the first pandemic period in the four countries, starting from weeks 4 to 11 (in 2020) and ending at week 22 (in 2021), the number of deaths per million people per week and the CFRs in the ≥ 15 years age group were 500 to 2513 and 442 to 1662 times greater, respectively, than those in the 0–14 years age group. The number of deaths per million people per week was significantly lower in the first pandemic period than in the second pandemic period, which started at week 23 (2021) and ended from week 22 to week 25 (2023). During the second pandemic period in the four countries, the disparities between the ≥ 15 years and 0–14 years age groups decreased, and the number of deaths per million people per week in the ≥ 15 years age group was 76 to 180 times greater than it in the 0–14 years age group.

Conclusion: Children aged 0–14 years had a far lower mortality risk during the entire COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact of viral variants and/or vaccination on the mortality rate is difficult to distinguish.