Four years after the start of the Covid pandemic, declared by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020, at least three children or adolescents up to 14 years old still die in Brazil every four days on average due to complications of the disease.
An unprecedented analysis of the Observa-Infância bulletin, covering the first nine weeks of each year between 2021 and 2024, shows that low vaccination coverage rates are associated with the persistence of mortality in this age group.
This year, there were 48 Covid deaths until March 8, according to preliminary data from the project. The number indicates an average of 0.71 deaths per day or 2.8 deaths every four days. They represent 32.4% of deaths in this age group from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
In this age group, vaccination coverage is around 11.4%, slightly below the percentage of adults with all four doses of the vaccine (14.9%).
The group with the worst coverage are children aged 3 to 4 years old. Only a quarter (23%) have received two vaccine doses, and only 7% have completed the vaccination schedule with three doses.