Tackling COVID-19 for children and families
We’re reducing the impact of COVID-19 on the health and wellbeing of children and the community, now and into the future.
At Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), our COVID-19 response leverages the breadth and depth of our research and our deep understanding of children, young people, families and communities.
As Australia’s leading child health research institute, we strive to improve national and international understanding of the effects of COVID-19 on children.
Our researchers’ expertise spans paediatrics, epidemiology, infectious diseases, public and mental health, and vaccine development. By working collaboratively, we aim to create a safer, healthier future for all children.
We’re reducing the impact of COVID-19 on the health and wellbeing of children and the community, now and into the future.
At Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), our COVID-19 response leverages the breadth and depth of our research and...
We’re reducing the impact of COVID-19 on the health and wellbeing of children and the community, now and into the future.
At Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), our COVID-19 response leverages the breadth and depth of our research and our deep understanding of children, young people, families and communities.
As Australia’s leading child health research institute, we strive to improve national and international understanding of the effects of COVID-19 on children.
Our researchers’ expertise spans paediatrics, epidemiology, infectious diseases, public and mental health, and vaccine development. By working collaboratively, we aim to create a safer, healthier future for all children.
Our pandemic response
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we faced an unprecedented global challenge. We worked together to understand how COVID-19 affects children and young people, how their immune systems respond, and what role vaccines could play in protecting them. This effort helped us navigate the immediate crisis and laid the foundation for long-term strategies against COVID-19 and future pandemics.
During the height of the pandemic, we worked on several COVID-19 research projects, including:
- Hospital admission studies that showed children were generally spared the most severe effects of COVID-19, though the risk of long-COVID remains uncertain.
- Discovering that the virus triggers the innate immune system (the body's first line of defence) in children but not in adults, shedding light on age-specific responses to infection.
- Exploring the use of stem cells to study COVID-19’s effects on organs and develop better treatments for those affected.
- Offering critical advice on immunisation and vaccine production, including helping make vaccines available for children aged 12-15.
How we’re preparing for future challenges
Our ongoing work is focused on preparing for future pandemics by continuing our COVID-19 research. We are:
- Contributing profound knowledge to governments, healthcare professionals, businesses, and families, providing them with the evidence-based tools to fight future viruses.
- Investigating how policies like lockdowns and school closures impacted young people to ensure that future responses protect their wellbeing.
By understanding the lessons from COVID-19, we aim to build a healthier future for children and ensure that we are ready to minimise the impact of future global health crises.
Our focus going forward
Children and adolescents continue to make up a significant portion of COVID-19 cases, but hospital admissions remain low. Our researchers are working hard to understand why many young people have mild or no symptoms and to explore the long-term effects of the virus (long-COVID) on those who become unwell.
As evidence grows that SARS-CoV-2 impacts organs beyond the lungs, we are collaborating with leading experts to study causes, identify risk factors, and develop new ways of protecting children from severe complications. Our research now extends to developing targeted treatments to safeguard the health of future generations.
Current research
Past research
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