COVID Lockdowns Left Children Vulnerable to Common Illnesses, Study Finds

Immunity Gap Linked to Resurgence of Respiratory Viruses

Early childhood exposure to common respiratory viruses was significantly disrupted by COVID-19 prevention measures. New research indicates this gap in exposure left young children with diminished immunity, contributing to the post-pandemic surge in illnesses like RSV and influenza.

Immunity Levels Plummeted During Pandemic

A multi-center clinical study followed 174 children under ten years old from 2022 to 2023. Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham collected blood and respiratory samples. The findings, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, revealed that most participants lacked immunity to many typical respiratory viruses. This lack of prior exposure is attributed to widespread masking and social distancing protocols.

As pandemic-related restrictions eased, immunity levels for these pathogens saw a notable increase among the children. This aligns with the observed widespread resurgence of these viruses affecting pediatric populations after the pandemic’s peak.

PREMISE Study Offers Unprecedented Immune Insight

This research is among the first from the National Institutes of Health’s PREMISE program, designed for pandemic response surveillance. The study provided a unique opportunity to track immune development in very young children through consistent sample collection.

“PREMISE is a one-of-a-kind study as we followed very young children, with their parents’ consent, over a year for longitudinal sample collection, affording us the unique opportunity to assess immunity due to primary infection, re-exposure and even vaccination, during a time when mask requirements and other non-pharmaceutical interventions were lifted.”

—Dr. Perdita Permaul, Section Chief of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine

The collected data allows for more accurate reconstruction of past viral circulation patterns and improved prediction of future outbreaks. Researchers demonstrated that PREMISE data from 2022-23 accurately forecasted the subsequent wave of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) infections in 2024.

Future Preparedness Through Immune Surveillance

The PREMISE program, based at the NIH’s Vaccine Research Center, has evaluated nearly 1,000 children, generating extensive data on immune responses to various viruses. This information is crucial for developing targeted antibody treatments and effective vaccines.

“This approach allows for the rapid development of vaccine and monoclonal antibody therapeutics for pathogens of interest in children. Future analysis of blood samples collected from almost 1,000 children enrolled in PREMISE includes pathogen-specific T and B cell responses. Longitudinal immune surveillance in young children is an important tool for informing public health planning, assessing the effectiveness of pharmacologic and non-pharmacological interventions, developing ‘on the shelf’ therapeutics and mitigating overall disease burden.”

—Dr. Perdita Permaul, Englander Clinical Scholar, Weill Cornell Medicine

The study, funded entirely by the National Institutes of Health through a subcontract with Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, received a total of $7.98 million over five years. This comprehensive immune surveillance in young populations is a vital tool for public health initiatives and pandemic preparedness. For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted a significant increase in RSV hospitalizations among children during the 2022-2023 season, a trend consistent with the study’s findings.