Table 4.
Research Opportunities Related to Children and Coronavirus Disease 2019
| Category | Question/Topic | Population | Approach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Epidemiology | Immunologic basis of relative sparing of younger children | Children of all ages | Collect serological data pre- and post-COVID-19; compare immunologic biomarkers in COVID-19 hospitalized, mildly asymptomatic, and asymptomatic children |
| Diagnostics | Understand the variable detection of viral nucleic acid from nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal, nasal, and stool specimens in children | Children of all ages | Colonization studies of various sites correlated with clinical presentation and symptoms |
| Clinical manifestations | Understand the varying infectious and post-infectious clinical manifestations associated with infection, including multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children | Children of all ages; comparison with adults | Analyze registries assembled by compiling descriptive and epidemiologic data |
| Treatment | Engagement of children with their unique pathophysiology and limited severity in treatment and vaccine trials from the development stage | Older adolescents with progression to younger age groups | Enroll and engage older adolescents in early phase trials |
| Infection prevention | Role of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic children in COVID-19 propagation in the population | Children of all ages | Household and community transmission studies; design vaccine trials with consideration of herd protection |
| Preparedness and impact | Understand the impact of social isolation and abrupt economic changes on physical and social development, food security, and behavioral health | Children of all ages | Compare cohorts of different ages and from different communities |
| Distribute public health messaging, optimize engagement, and subsidize systems to optimize uptake of routine pediatric vaccines and monitor for disease outbreaks | Children all ages | Engage pediatric infectious disease clinicians with public health professionals in the assessment of immunization uptake; collaborate with clinicians to develop safe and effective outreach strategies to immunize children during the stages of pandemic response; engage the media in propagating productive messaging |
Abbreviation: COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019.