Aug 22, 2022 - News

Most Texas kids have contracted COVID, CDC survey says

Illustration of a stack of wooden toy blocks showing a syringe, a COVID cell and a cotton swab.

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

About eight in 10 Texas kids have already been infected with COVID-19, new CDC data shows.

Driving the news: The CDC released the results of its latest pediatric antibody seroprevalence survey last week.

  • The results of blood samples taken in May and June suggest that 81% of Texans between the ages of 6 months and 17 years have been infected with COVID-19 at least once.
Data: CDC; Map: Simran Parwani/Axios

The big picture: 62% of Texans six months and older are fully vaccinated.

Yes, but: The latest BA.5 subvariant of omicron is now the dominant strain of the coronavirus in the U.S., and it's the most transmissible we've seen since the start of the pandemic.

  • It can break through vaccines and evade antibodies from prior omicron infections.

The good news: Studies suggest long COVID is rarer in children.

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