Long COVID and children’s rights

Abstract

This policy note calls for the recognition of long COVID as a children’s rights issue in the UK. While children have been affected by school closures and lockdown restrictions throughout the pandemic, the relatively low rates of COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths among children have led to their de-prioritization in efforts to reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Yet infection rates are extremely high among children in the UK, particularly secondary school students, and early studies suggest that many are not recovering for up to a year after infection. Prolonged illness following infection, ‘long COVID’, has implications for children’s rights to education, health, and a private and family life, among others. By extension, children have a right to have their best interests taken into consideration in policy-making processes relating to long COVID. The policy note thus argues that we must recognize the significance of long COVID in children and, upon this basis, call upon the State to address its human rights implications.

A Critical Analysis of UK Media Characterisations of Long Covid in Children and Young People

“…71 CYP are inherently at a hermeneutical disadvantage within the adult-created healthcare system, as their unique understanding and experience of illness is projected onto an adult interpretive framework. 12 Within the covid-19 pandemic, there was a systematic deprioritization of children's interests 72 . The media initially portrayed children as vectors of covid-19 instead of individuals at risk.…”

“…The media initially portrayed children as vectors of covid-19 instead of individuals at risk. 72 With mounting evidence that children contract covid-19, the narrative morphed to how covid-19 in children is mild 72 . This narrative has been countered with evidence that children (with and without underlying conditions) can suffer severe acute covid-19.…”

Conclusions

“…There are notable themes on children's rights that have emerged in several, if not all, chapters. First, policy challenges within the education sector, from corporal punishment to pandemic-related disruptions, underscore the critical role of educational environments as contested spaces for upholding children's rights (Bhatt 2023;Knox 2010;Koller et al 2022;Lenta 2012;Riduansyah et al 2021;Tisdall and Morrison 2022;Vohito 2021). Second, this volume sheds light on the morally horrendous crises faced by children in border regions, notably the forced separations in the context of militarized migration policies by the US government (Amuedo-Dorantes and Bucheli 2023; Oliveira, Barbieri, and Alex 2021).…”