<Anchor> In the



United States, where the number of daily corona cases exceeded 300,000, the number of children and adolescents hospitalized for Corona is skyrocketing. A booster dose for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 will also be approved soon.



Correspondent Kim Soo-hyung reports from Washington.



<Reporter>



Yesterday (30th), the number of confirmed cases of Corona in the United States exceeded 301,000.



With the spread of Omicron, the highest number of confirmed cases is pouring in every day since the Corona crisis.



Even during winter vacation, the number of hospitalized children and adolescents is increasing exponentially.



From the 21st to the 27th, the number of hospitalized children and adolescents under the age of 17 was 334 per day, an increase of 58% from the previous week.



This is the second highest number of hospitalizations on record.



[Paul Offit / Doctor at Philadelphia Children's Hospital: If you look at the children hospitalized with Corona, all of them have not been vaccinated.


Neither the children's parents nor their siblings were vaccinated.] The



New York Times reported that on January 3 next year, the U.S. health authorities will expand the eligibility for Pfizer vaccine boosters to adolescents aged 12 to 15 years.



[Michelle Wollensky / CDC Director: The FDA is now reviewing the issue of booster vaccinations between 12 and 15 years of age. We hope to see results within a few days or weeks. ]



Despite the explosion of Omicron, we decided to hold a New Year's Eve event where many people gather from New York City as well as Chicago.



[Jonathan Reiner/Professor George Washington University School of Medicine: We are facing the worst health crisis of our lives.

I honestly feel like most European cities should have canceled their New Year's Eve celebrations.

]



Fortunately, there is no significant change in the death toll, but there is a growing concern that the number of deaths will increase with a time lag if the explosion of Omicron continues.