Covid kills three children every four days in Brazil – 03/10/2024 – Health

Four years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, declared by the WHO (World Health Organization) on March 11, 2020, at least three children or adolescents up to the age of 14 still die in Brazil every four days, on average. due to complications of the disease.

An unprecedented analysis of the Observa-Infância bulletin, produced with data from Sivep-Gripe/Fiocruz from 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 deaths from Covid until the 8th, 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 due to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

In this age group, vaccination coverage is around 11.4%, slightly below the percentage of adults with four doses of the vaccine (14.9%).

The group with the worst coverage are children aged 3 to 4 years. Only a quarter (23%) took two doses of the vaccine and only 7% had the complete vaccination schedule with three doses (until the end of February).

In the age group of 5 to 11 years, the situation is slightly better, with 55.9% having received two doses and 12.8% completing the three-dose schedule.

This year’s number of deaths is similar to that recorded in the first eight weeks of 2023, a total of 50, and indicates that there has been a significant drop in deaths since vaccines became available to children and young people.

In 2022, for example, there were 326 deaths from Covid up to 14 years of age, representing 47% of SARS deaths in the country. In 2021, there were 118 deaths, which accounted for 38% of deaths from the syndrome.

According to Cristiano Boccolini, researcher at Fiocruz and coordinator of Observa Infância, the drop in deaths from Covid and the proportion in relation to total deaths from SARS indicate the effectiveness of vaccination and the importance of expanding coverage.

For him, despite the relative stability of death numbers in 2024, the situation is still very worrying. “Stabilization seems like a good thing, but it’s not. If we had the time and resources, having the same numbers as in 2023 is terrible.”

Boccolini states that the perception is that, with the rise in dengue fever, Covid has fallen out of the focus of public health managers.

“The news now is just dengue, dengue, dengue. For children under ten years of age, we still don’t have a vaccine, and for Covid we do. More children are dying from Covid than dengue,” he says.

In 2024, of the 48 losses, 26 were children under 2 years old; four between 2 and 4 years old and 18 between 5 and 14 years old.

Salesperson Miriam Elaine Nadalon, currently 33 years old, was 32 weeks pregnant and suffering from Covid when her water broke in 2021.

Her baby, Leandro Júnior, vertically infected, was born under the care of the team at the Hospital das Clínicas de Ribeirão Preto (HCRP) and spent two months and 22 days in hospital, but did not resist the disease.

“He was in the most serious condition in that hospital. He was suffering a lot and the doctors did everything possible. It was terrible. I couldn’t even hold him. I picked him up when he was already lifeless”, he remembers.

Nadalon was vaccinated, as was her daughter Ana Clara, who is now 8 years old, and the rest of the family, but the little one didn’t have that chance. “They allowed her to see her brother four days before they left us and, to this day, she remembers everything about him. He was going to be 3 years old now, on the 31st”, she laments.

The sad situation was also experienced by the family of baby Helena Alves, just eight months old, who died on February 28th due to complications from Covid-19 and dengue.

Her mother, Gabriella Alves, 32, sought two hospitals and a basic health unit in Planaltina, in the Federal District, and was released from all of them.

The child died at home, and the family returned to one of the hospitals, where the team tried to revive the baby. The IML (Legal Medical Institute) report showed that, in addition to the dengue fever being investigated, the girl had also been affected by Covid-19.

Milla Dourado, 31, publicist, Helena’s aunt and godmother, says that the posthumous Covid indicator required a burial with a sealed coffin. “This was another burden. We were already dealing with the pain of Helena’s early loss. This Covid diagnosis was a big surprise and we were prevented from holding the wake”, says the aunt.

Helena was an only child and, according to her family, she was up to date with her vaccinations, but had not yet received her Covid vaccine as advised by the basic health unit that cared for the girl.

“We still have this doubt today whether it was six months old or over a year old, because the health center she attended, where she was monitored, didn’t say anything about the Covid vaccine”, says the aunt.

The Covid vaccine has been released for children over six months of age since the end of 2022 and, from this year onwards, it entered the National Vaccination Calendar

The godmother also regrets that Helena was not placed under observation, as is necessary in the case of babies.

“We would like to have heard earlier that children under one year of age need a different approach in the emergency room in case of dengue fever”, says the aunt. “My advice is that you fight for the rights of your children. Request observation for your children, because they become dehydrated very quickly. If Helena had not been sent home, if she had been under the care of a specialized health team that could detect the signs of hemorrhage in her, she would probably be here with us.”