A top Irish doctor has said that she has been seeing children presenting with "strange" physical symptoms which they cannot find a medical cause for.
Dr Niamh Lynch, a consultant paediatrician at the Bon Secours Hospital, said that children have been finding it tough throughout this pandemic and are showing signs of mental health problems.
Dr Lynch told RTE's Brendan O'Connor: "The patterns of illness in children have been very unusual this past year.
"What I'm seeing is children who have physical symptoms of anxiety, tummy pain, headaches, dizziness, strange symptoms like that that we can't find a medical cause for.
"When we investigate them we find nothing physical as such but because of the stress they are under they are manifesting with physical symptoms."
She added that most kids are experiencing "large amounts of stress" and the "majority of kids have found it very hard".
With no plan in place currently for the vaccination of kids, the doctor stressed that they will soon become the most vulnerable in our society.
She added: "Young children will be our most vulnerable population because there are a million children in this country and they will be the largest group unvaccinated.
"Approximately 12% of children who get Covid-19 end up being hospitalised."
