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This is how the markets relax, and with blockchains, savvy users can all watch live as it goes down.

For the past few days, crypto watchers have been intrigued by two major wallets that appear to be linked and contain $181 million in ether (ETH). They also have collateral in loans that are right on the edge of their ability to pay.

• Most of the debt is on money market Aave (152,098.98 ETH worth $166 million at the time of writing, but the rest is on Compound (14,316.90 ETH worth $15.6 million).

Why it matters: If the price of ether falls further, this debt will be liquidated, unleashing a surge of ether into the market that will drive the price of ether even lower.

Driving the news: The winter is getting colder for crypto as Bitcoin slips below the psychologically charged $20,000 mark early Saturday and Ether briefly dips below $1,000 as investors turn to digital coins. Both have lost over 30% of their value in the last week alone.

With a whale in a dangerous situation In such a position, traders who believe Ether will return to its previous highs in the long-term now have an incentive to sell. If it goes down sharply, large loans like this will be liquidated, driving the price down even further.

• That could be their signal to buy back and increase their total ETH holdings for free, but only after the market’s longs have suffered some serious pain.
• Meanwhile, liquidations at decentralized finance providers are currently increasing, with $250.6 million in liquidations taking place on Aave, Compound, and MakerDAO in the last 7 days, according to Dune Analytics.

A trading account with 165,000 followers noticing the precarious position of 0x493F. Screenshot: @lightcrypto (Twitter)

Details: The wallets in question are 0x493F and 0x7160. For the first wallet, scroll down to Aave v2 and see the biggest credit.

• These wallets appear to be related to each other as they make larger ether transfers here and here from the former to the latter before topping up collateral for compound loans.

One could of course ask: Why not just call the loans? They can’t because the wallets are leveraged for a long time. The owner deposited ETH, borrowed stablecoins, bought more ETH and deposited that to borrow more stablecoins to do it again. Etc.

• ZoomerAnon, from the team at DeFi analytics firm Uniwhales, explained that you can see the wallet repeatedly taking stablecoins like USDT and USDC, sending them to Binance and withdrawing thousands of Ether.
• At the beginning of January, several transactions like this could be observed with Etherscan.

Be smart: Traders leverage long when they think an asset’s price will rise. If this is the case, they can withdraw enough funds to repay their loan, withdraw their collateral, and exit the trade with more underlying asset.

Yes but: It only works when the price of the asset increases.

• These wallets bet Ether would continue to rise in January when it traded above $3,300. Today it barely holds $1,000.
• “He borrowed 96,040 ETH before borrowing any money,” ZoomerAnon told Axios via Telegram.

DeFi lenders are automated. They monitor collateral prices to ensure all loans are properly collateralised. Once the collateral becomes insufficient, these protocols automatically sell the underlying collateral on the open market.

• Whenever a borrower is liquidated, he takes a painful haircut. When they have leveraged their position, this haircut will be multiplied.

Using the numbers: A researcher did the math that the largest position on Aave is liquidated at an ETH price of $982. Uniwhales put its liquidation price at $870.

• ETH would need to drop $212, almost 20%, to trigger this lower price. However, ETH has lost $212 since June 13 and almost $900 since June 1.

The Intrigue: It is speculated that these positions belong to a major Chinese entrepreneur, but it could be operating alone without the sophisticated risk modeling of trading firms and the ability to monitor positions 24/7.

• However, if the owner has liquid funds, they can always buy stablecoins and close out some of the dead positions to avert liquidation.

thought bubble: This may sound like another huge catastrophe awaiting the crypto world, but there is another way to look at it: as a transparent marketplace that works as expected.

• Dozens of passengers have been at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for more than 24 hours.
• The stranded airmen told local outlet 11 Alive that their flights had been delayed or canceled multiple times.
• Delta recently announced plans to reduce flights in July and August to avoid summer travel disruptions.

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Dozens of Delta passengers have been stranded at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for more than 24 hours after a string of cancellations, local reports said.

Frustrated travelers told 11 Alive that flights were changed or canceled multiple times, thwarting their plans and leaving them with no personal items in checked bags. Their travel woes come as more than 14,000 flights within, out of or to the United States were canceled or delayed on Friday and Saturday, with another 950 canceled as early as Sunday, according to flight tracker Flight Aware.

Reports of stranded customers also follow Delta’s recent announcement that it plans to cancel 100 flights a day in July and August to avoid travel disruptions over the summer as the airline struggles to keep up with soaring demand and ongoing labor shortages to keep.

“A variety of factors continue to impact our operations, including issues with air traffic control, the weather and unplanned absences in some work groups,” a Delta spokesman told Insider on Saturday. “Flight cancellation is always our last resort and we sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience with their travel plans.”

Disabled Army veteran Joe Reis told 11 Alive that the extensive delays prevented him from returning home from his honeymoon and put a damper on the end of what had otherwise been a happy occasion.

“Instead of it being a happy honeymoon, it turned into a very miserable plane ride waiting for this hell hole to finally leave us,” Reis told 11 Alive, adding that he slept on the airport floor overnight.

Others are running out of essentials like Brooke Osbourne, who is 11 Alive, said she is now short of diapers and formula for her 11-month-old daughter.

“We gave her more food and fewer bottles throughout the day since all of her formula is in our checked bag, which is in Omaha,” Osbourne said.

While all airlines have shown signs of struggle in recent months, Delta has been hit particularly hard. The airline canceled 700 flights over Memorial Day weekend, the most of any airline. A spokesman told Insider at the time that Delta allowed cancellations at least 24 hours before departure time and found later flights for 90% of customers affected by disruptions.

Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg met virtually with several top airline CEOs on Thursday to discuss industry challenges and urge executives to find ways to improve service ahead of the July 4 holiday, Reuters reported.

“Air travelers should be able to expect reliable service as demand returns to levels not seen since before the pandemic,” Buttigieg said tweeted on Friday.

More Canadians are considering delaying their retirement due to the worsening economic situation, a recent survey has found.

• Also read: The fight for tax cuts

For example, according to a survey by Angus Reid on behalf of financial advisor Advisorsavvy and debt consolidation firm Bromwitch and Smith, nearly half of adults aged 55 and over have changed or plan to change their retirement plans due to rising inflation due to rising cost of living.

“It’s a combination of several factors. [avec] pandemic, war [en Ukraine] and inflation. People are feeling inflation, whether it’s at the pump, at the grocery store, or just in general housing costs,” Advisorsavvy founder Saul Amos said in an interview with Global News.

But inflation isn’t the only thing motivating older people to stay in the labor market longer. Lack of savings (over 60%), fear of lack of money (over 70%) and the need to support children financially (over 25%) are important tangents in retirement planning.

In addition, more than six out of ten people fear that they will never be able to enjoy their retirement.

In light of these revelations, Mr. Amos suggests that people suffering from retirement anxiety consult a financial management professional such as a financial planner, investment advisor or licensed bankruptcy practitioner.

The survey was conducted online June 9-12, 2022 with 1,519 Canadians.

• A California gas station manager lost his job after mistakenly pricing gas at 69 cents a gallon.
• John Szczecina’s sister set up a GoFundMe that raised more than $20,000 to pay back station owners.
• “Even if it cost me my job, it’s okay. Because the truth is, you know, it’s my fault,” Szczecina said.

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Former Shell petrol station manager John Szczecina is trying to pay back his former employer after wrongly pricing premium petrol as low as 69 cents a gallon.

Shell gas station in Szczecina in Rancho Cordova, California, flooded with customers when he mistakenly moved a decimal place to 69 cents on $6.99 a gallon of premium gasoline, according to CBS Sacrament

Before the bug was fixed hours later, customers had flocked to the gas station to take advantage of the unintended deal amid rising gas prices. The error is believed to have cost the gas station $20,000 in sales, according to Fortune.

“I immediately thought we had been robbed and I was afraid something terrible had happened to the cashiers,” Szczecina, who later lost his job, told the Washington Post. “Even if it cost me my job, it’s okay. Because the truth is, you know, it’s my fault.”

With the help of friends and family, the former manager is now trying to pay back the allegedly independent Shell petrol station. One person who said they were Szczecina’s sister, Paula Jackson, set up a GoFundMe, which raised more than enough money to cover the damage. Szczecina and his sister make arrangements to return the money to Shell.

“He doesn’t have to pay it back,” Jackson told the Washington Post. “But just the fact that he does it and wants to do it shows a lot of character and honesty and responsibility and I’m really proud of him for that.”

At the time of publication, GoFundMe had surpassed its goal and raised at least TK,000 US dollars.

“We would like to thank you all for your encouraging words and financial support! We have achieved our goal and are now in the process of arranging the return of the money,” the bellhop said on Friday. “We appreciate all of you kind and generous people!”

To the delight of the dealers, many Formula 1 fans gathered this weekend, who didn’t let the cloudy weather in the metropolis slow them down.

• Also read: Casino strike: croupier breaks out at Grand Prix

• Also read: F1 drivers’ favorite hostel

Crescent Street, in particular, swarmed with people who came to enjoy the activities and admire the luxury cars. Umbrellas and raincoats are required.

Several fans interviewed by TVA Nouvelles said they were excited for the Grand Prix. They can’t wait to enjoy race day and the rain doesn’t dampen their enthusiasm.

“It’s my first race and it’s also Father’s Day,” explained an F1 fan who was present with his father.

Traders are hoping this weekend will mark the start of Montreal’s summer tourist season. Significant economic benefits are expected, especially for the first summer after the pandemic.

Around 20 million babies, toddlers and preschoolers are now eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19 after Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, unanimously decided by her agency’s external vaccine advisors to recommend vaccinations from Moderna as, as well as Pfizer and BioNTech for children six months and older.

“Together, and with science at the forefront, we have taken another important step forward in our nation’s fight against COVID-19,” Walensky said in a statement.

About a third of parents plan to have their child vaccinated in the age group, according to CDC survey results released Saturday. Some of the long-awaited recordings could start as early as this bank holiday weekend. Federal officials anticipate the bulk of immunizations will begin after doctors’ offices reopen on Tuesday.

“We know millions of parents and carers are anxious to get their young children vaccinated, and with today’s decision, they can. I encourage parents and carers to reach out to their doctor, nurse or local pharmacist with any questions to learn more about the benefits of vaccination and the importance of protecting their children through vaccination,” added Walensky.

After a two-day meeting, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to consider data on the benefits and risks of immunization in young children. A panel of the Food and Drug Administration’s own outside advisers had also voted unanimously on Wednesday to support the approval.

“Those entrusted with the care of children can have confidence in the safety and effectiveness of these COVID-19 vaccines and that the agency has thoroughly evaluated the data,” said FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf in a statement.

The FDA also on Friday added Moderna’s vaccine as an alternative to Pfizer’s shots in children ages 6 to 17, though the CDC said its advisors won’t vote on updated recommendations for those shots until next week.

Distribution of the first waves of fire

The vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer and its partner BioNTech have already begun shipping after the Food and Drug Administration granted approval on Friday. However, as with older age groups, government supply agreements require vacciners to wait for CDC approval before giving immunizations to young children.

Federal officials say most jurisdictions — with the exception of Florida — had pre-ordered cans from the 10 million total recordings available; 2.5 million orders were received for Pfizer shots and 1.3 million for Moderna.

Many of them will go to places chosen by the authorities, such as B. County Health Departments who are able to stockpile and redistribute smaller portions of the 100-dose shipments. States, including Florida, have also now begun allowing all enrolled vaccinators to request vaccinations directly through them.

Some drugstores will also offer the shots, although authorities have planned a rollout that will rely heavily on paediatricians and GPs in the coming weeks. The pandemic liability protection, which is extended to include vaccinators and pharmacists, only applies to children over the age of three.

The Biden administration’s Vaccines.gov website will also soon include a feature to find sites that offer vaccines specifically for younger children, as more vaccinators begin offering vaccines. About half of the doctors who vaccinate children plan to offer immunizations to children who are not their regular patients, according to a CDC survey.

Vendors in the first wave have only ordered one of the brands in some jurisdictions, although the Biden administration hopes this will even out as supply increases in future rounds of deliveries across the country.

Smaller doses for kids – and the differences between Moderna and Pfizer

In contrast to the broadly similar schedules of the first round of COVID-19 vaccinations available in adults, the manufacturers of the two mRNA vaccines have taken different approaches to immunizing young children.

In children aged 6 months to 5 years, Moderna’s vaccine was tested as two injections one month apart. Their doses will be 25 micrograms, a fraction of the 100-microgram primary series launched for adults last year.

Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine is given to children ages 6 months to 4 years in a total of three shots given over an 11-week period. These doses are 3 micrograms in size, just a tenth of the 30 microgram intakes for people 12 and older.

At a briefing with reporters on Friday, Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s lead vaccine commissioner, said the “nuanced benefits and risks compare to each other,” but urged parents to look for the first vaccines available.

“It may be that the Moderna vaccine elicits a slightly faster immune response. On the other hand, the three-dose Pfizer regimen may also induce a stronger immune response after the third dose. And there are some subtle differences in the safety profile,” said Marks.

Based on examining antibodies to the virus in the blood of study participants, the FDA said data in young children suggests their immune response will be at least as good as that in adults after they receive their first two shots.

Some of the children under the age of 5 didn’t cross that threshold, having only received two of their doses in Pfizer’s studies, the company told investors last year, so a third dose was required.

“If you want to send your child back to kindergarten or elementary school in September, you have to take the Moderna vaccine. They can’t do this on Pfizer’s schedule. And we know two doses isn’t protective, from Pfizer,” Stéphane, CEO of Moderna, told Bancel at the Jefferies Healthcare Conference last week.

The FDA review found that the lower dose of Pfizer likely resulted in the fewer side effects seen in the group compared to older people.

“We already know that 30% of children in older people get the vaccine. There could be many reasons for this, but one of them is reactogenicity,” said William Gruber, Pfizer’s director of clinical research and vaccine development. told FDA advisers, citing short-term side effects such as pain, fever, and pain at the injection site.

For Moderna, fever rates were higher in younger children than in adolescents and adults, although they were still about the same as in that age group with other routine vaccines, the FDA review found.

The medical expert Dr. David Agus answers questions about children’s vaccinations and ongoing COVID symptoms 04:38

Pfizer’s estimate of vaccine effectiveness for three doses in warding off symptomatic infections is also much higher than Moderna’s estimate for two doses during the Omicron wave, and also better than estimates from some of the older age groups who received Pfizer’s doses.

But both the FDA and CDC reviews raise questions about Pfizer’s estimate, suggesting it’s too early to say with certainty exactly how effective the three doses will be, and cautioning against direct comparisons. Some study participants also received their third Pfizer shots well later than the recommended eight weeks, the FDA noted.

In its Friday press release announcing the approvals, the FDA said Pfizer’s analysis “was deemed unreliable due to the small number of COVID-19 cases encountered in study participants.”

“I believe the vaccine is effective. I have no idea what that number will actually be,” said Dr. CDC’s Amanda Cohn before the FDA’s committee on Wednesday.

When do younger children get a refresher?

Marks acknowledged that both vaccines may need updating in the coming months but urged parents to offer their children a “basic level of immunity” now with updated versions of the shots.

The FDA has scheduled another meeting of its advisors to weigh the issue for all ages as both vaccine makers have scramble to ramp up production of new formulations of their shots targeting the Omicron variant.

“If it turns out that there is going to be a very large change in loads in the fall, we will adapt and ensure that an option is available for the youngest children and for the entire pediatric age group,” said Marks.

A Moderna executive told CDC advisors Friday that the company already plans to begin studying boosters suitable for the Omicron variant in children under the age of six, starting next week and at least three months after their second dose would be administered.

“We hope to be able to present the booster immunogenicity and safety data for this age group by early fall,” said Dr. Rituparna Das from Moderna to the CDC committee.

Children as young as six months are already eligible by the FDA to receive a third dose of Moderna’s vaccine if they are significantly immunocompromised.

Younger children are generally at lower risk of severe COVID-19 than their older peers and adults, and many asymptomatic cases likely went unreported. No severe cases of the disease were found in Moderna’s study, even in children who received a placebo.

But officials and experts warn the virus has still taken an unprecedented toll on children.

“There’s a lot of information circulating that says, ‘I had the Omicron variant or my child had the Omicron variant and vaccination is not important,'” Marks said Friday.

Hospitalizations and deaths in young children increased during the Omicron wave, although data suggested many children already had some antibodies from a previous infection.

“There is new data to suggest that the Omicron variant does not elicit the kind of excellent immune response against a variety of COVID-19 variants that vaccines produce,” he added.

More Alexander Tin

CBS News reporter on public health and the pandemic.

Bitcoin continued its decline on Saturday, weighed down by investors’ lack of risk appetite: it fell as low as $18,740, down 9% from the previous day. This is the lowest level since December 13, 2020.

• Also read: The lawsuit seeks $258 billion from Elon Musk for his support of Dogecoin

• Also read: The cryptocurrency platform Celsius is heating up the Caisse

Since its all-time high on November 10, 2021 at $68,991, the digital currency has lost over 72% of its value. As of 15:50 GMT, it was at $18,941, down 8% from Friday.

A sign that the liquidation continues in this market in full crisis, all major cryptocurrencies fell sharply on Saturday. Ether, the second most used digital currency, lost almost 10%.

Stock markets tumbled this week, concerned by the idea that central banks, led by the Fed (US Federal Reserve), would not be too aggressive in their desire to curb inflation and risk weakening the global economy.

But it is the cryptocurrencies that pay the highest price. On Monday, the cryptocurrency market fell below the symbolic $1 trillion ceiling. It rose to 3 trillion last November.

Bitcoin’s fall was accelerated by the suspension of withdrawals by two cryptocurrency investment platforms.

Celsius announced a pause in withdrawals and transfers on Sunday evening. This company, which, according to its website, managed $12 billion worth of assets in mid-May, notably offered its users to place their “historical” cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ether, to invest in new virtual currencies.

Babel Finance told its customers on Friday that it was suspending all withdrawals due to “unusual liquidity pressures”.

A brief freeze on Bitcoin withdrawals from the world’s largest exchange, Binance, also contributed to a lack of appetite for cryptocurrencies this week.

Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase announced on Tuesday that it would cut 18% of its workforce, or around 1,100 jobs.

“It looks like we’re about to enter a recession after more than 10 years of economic boom,” said the company’s co-founder and CEO, Brian Armstrong, in explaining the massive layoffs.

“A recession could result in another ‘crypto winter’ and last for a longer period of time,” he added.

By 2021, this fledgling sector had increasingly attracted more traditional financial players, whose appetite for risk was fueled by ultra-loose policies from central banks around the world.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky must opt ​​out before vaccines can be administered, which could happen as early as next week.

During Friday’s discussion of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices about the vaccine, the committee heard Dr. Matthew Daley say unvaccinated people aged 5 and over were at 10 times the risk of dying from Covid-19 than those vaccinated with at least the primary series.

dr Katherine Fleming-Dutra noted at the meeting that “the benefits of vaccination are more pronounced when the disease burden is high. And we can predict that in future waves of Covid-19, the unvaccinated will continue to bear the burden of disease.”

On Saturday said Dr. Veronica McNally says she is “struck” by the impact Covid-19 has had on children.

“I am struck by these numbers: 2 million cases, 20,000 hospitalizations and over 200 deaths. And I’m also concerned that the potential seriousness of a respiratory virus in children at this age is really underestimated and parents sometimes have an unclear understanding of the long-term consequences, including MIS-C,” McNally said.

“The hard work only goes on,” Daley said after recommending the vaccine, citing the importance of telling parents “how vital these vaccines are in protecting children’s lives.”

“I hope that one day the true story will be told regarding the effort, dedication, care and compassion that went into – or prevented – this whole epidemic,” said Dr. Patricia Whitley-William.

Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccines are now approved for use in young children. On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded Moderna’s emergency vaccine approvals to children 6 months to 17 years and Pfizer/BioNTech to children 6 months to 4 years.

About 17 million children under the age of 5 are now eligible for Covid-19 vaccines.

Covid-19 is the leading cause of infectious disease-related deaths in people up to the age of 19, but data shows these deaths can be prevented with vaccination, said Dr. Matthew Daley on Friday at a meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

“Covid-19 is the leading cause of death among infectious diseases for people aged 0 to 19 years. And Covid-19 is the seventh leading cause of all deaths for people ages 0 to 19,” Daley, senior investigator at the Institute for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente Colorado, told the committee.

“As of March 2022, unvaccinated individuals aged 5 and older were 10 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than those vaccinated with at least the primary series,” Daley said, adding that in other words the data “provide real-world evidence that most deaths from Covid-19 are preventable through vaccination.”

Are the youngest vaccinated?

Many public health experts worry that even though the Covid-19 vaccines are now approved for younger age groups, parents of these children may not take their children to get them.

There is already slow uptake of Covid-19 vaccines among children.

“Having immunization options for the youngest children is very important; however, we have found relatively low uptake of Covid vaccines among children in the 5-12 year old cohort and so my concern is that uptake in the youngest children below 5 years old may also be lower than we would like.” said dr Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, on Wednesday.

Barouch, who is not involved in FDA or CDC decisions, helped develop and study Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine.

He said there are “striking” differences in how many adults are fully vaccinated compared to children and adolescents.

Children aged 5 to 11 were the last group eligible for vaccination in November. But only 29% of these children are fully vaccinated with their two-dose primary series in the United States, according to the CDC, compared to about:

• 60% of young people between 12 and 17 years
• 64% of adults between 18 and 24
• 67% of adults between 25 and 39
• 75% of adults between 40 and 49
• 82% of adults between 50 and 64
• 94% of adults between 65 and 74
• 88% of adults aged 75 and over

“We are planning and preparing for the launch of pediatric vaccines. Of course, there is still much work to be done to study the uptake of this vaccine. Some of the polls and polls that have gone public have indicated a continued decrease in parents considering giving their children these vaccines over time,” said Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation Immunization Monitor survey released in May, just 18% of parents of children under the age of 5 said they would vaccinate their child against Covid-19 once a vaccine became available.

“I think the more the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror for some people — or they think they are — the less they’ll be forced to, and that’s why we have a big public health education campaign ahead of us,” Freimann said. “Also, health departments at the local level will try to understand their community’s landscape in terms of how many providers, pediatricians and pharmacies have actually signed up to distribute the vaccine.”

“Benefits seem to clearly outweigh the risks”

Per FDA approval, the Moderna vaccine can be given to infants and children ages 6 months to 5 years as a primary series of two doses of 25 micrograms per dose. For older children aged 6 to 11 years, the dose is 50 micrograms each.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine can now be administered as a primary series of three doses of 3 micrograms per dose for use in infants and children aged 6 months to 4 years.

dr Paul Offit, an FDA vaccine advisor, said Wednesday that children who receive the Pfizer vaccine must complete a three-dose series to receive adequate protection.

“‘The benefits outweigh the risks’ is something I can support, but I have some concerns about this vaccine,” said Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania.

dr Jeannette Lee of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who is also a member of the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, agreed.

“Three cans will certainly be beneficial. I am very concerned that many of these children will not get a third dose,” she said. “My concern is that to really get what you need, you have to get the three cans.”

According to clinical trial data, common side effects of both vaccines include injection site pain, headache, fever, chills and fatigue. The vaccines appeared to elicit similar immune responses in children as in adults.

The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologicals Advisory Committee found that the benefits of both vaccines outweigh the risks, noting that the vaccines were “well tolerated” by the children who received them in clinical trials.

“The benefits appear to clearly outweigh the risks, particularly for those with young children who may be in preschool or in shared childcare,” said committee member Oveta Fuller, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan Medical School, in a discussion of the Moderna vaccine.

The number of Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths among children is worrying and much higher compared to flu-related deaths and hospitalizations, said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

“During the Omicron wave, there was still a relatively high rate of hospital admissions during this period,” he said. “This rate of hospital admissions is actually quite worrying, and when we compare that to what we’re seeing in a terrible flu season, it’s even worse.”

Marks said the number of deaths in children under the age of 4 in the first two years of the pandemic “also compares pretty terribly to what we’ve seen with influenza in the past.”

“We are dealing with an issue where I think we need to be careful not to go numb to the number of pediatric deaths because of the overwhelming number of elderly deaths here. Every life matters,” he said, adding, “Vaccine preventable deaths are ones that we would like to do something about.”

He added that the Covid-19 vaccines are a similar intervention to the influenza vaccine, which is widely and routinely used and accepted to prevent deaths in all age groups.

CNN’s Virginia Langmaid contributed to this report.