Fact Check: Is rise in the child hepatitis cases linked to Covid vaccine?

New Delhi, May 01: Several social media posts have claimed that there was evidence to link covid vaccines to a recent rise in hepatitis cases among children. The cases reported were in children aged from 1 month to 16 years, and 17 had required liver transplantation.

Posts on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook and Telegram have falsly claimed that these hepatitis cases were caused by the Covid vaccine. When verified, it was found to be fake alarm, as none of the children affected had received the jab.

"The Covid vaccine is the one thing they can definitively rule out - because none of the children affected had received the jab," Dr Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) told BBC.

"However, we are thoroughly investigating other potential causes," she added.

The WHO said that as of April 21 acute cases of hepatitis of unknown origin had been reported in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, Israel, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, France, Romania and Belgium. It said 114 of the 169 cases were in the United Kingdom alone.

The WHO said it was closely monitoring the situation and working with British health authorities, other member states and partners.

U.S. health officials have sent out a nationwide alert warning doctors to be on the lookout for symptoms of pediatric hepatitis, possibly linked with a cold virus.