In two years, the deaths of children up to five years old by Covid-19 were more than triple those caused, in a decade, by 14 other diseases that can have mortality avoided by vaccination and other health actions. In 2020 and 2021, 1,508 children died from Covid. The diseases that make up the Brazilian List of Avoidable Deaths added up to 44 deaths in this period. Between 2012 and 2021, there were a total of 498 deaths. The list, formulated by specialists from different areas related to child health and coordinated by the Ministry of Health, includes the following diseases: neurotuberculosis, miliary tuberculosis, neonatal tetanus, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, congenital rubella hepatitis, congenital viral hepatitis and meningococcal meningitis of the type B.
The list includes diseases that can kill, but that are preventable through SUS interventions, such as vaccination, adequate prenatal care and access to basic health care, childbirth care. The analysis is from the Childhood Health Observatory - Observa Infância, from Fiocruz/Unifase, based on data from the Ministry of Health's SIM (Mortality Information System).
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon