Sao Paulo, December 14 Brazil has recorded one daily death from covid-19 among children aged 6 months to 5 years this year, according to data released this Wednesday by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), linked to the Ministry of Health.
From 1 January to 11 October 2022, the health authorities of the country, one of the hardest hit in the world by the pandemic, reported 314 coronavirus-related deaths in that age group.
The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) approved on July 13 the emergency use of the vaccine developed by the Chinese laboratory Sinovac (Coronavac) for children aged 3 to 4 years.
Two months later, on September 16, he gave the green light to the pediatric formula of the American company Pfizer for children between 6 months and 4 years.
However, immunization against covid-19 of this population group is progressing “at a slow pace” in Brazil, warns Fiocruz, one of the most prestigious medical research centers in Latin America.
According to data from the Ministry of Health analyzed up to November 28, only 7 out of 100 children aged 3 and 4 received both doses of the vaccine.
“With the vaccines available, we can consider covid-19 as a vaccine-preventable disease. This means that these deaths can be avoided with a public policy of mass vaccination,” said Fiocruz Child Health Observatory coordinator , Patricia Boccolini, in a Note.
The childhood vaccination against covid-19 has been surrounded by strong controversy in Brazil due to the opposition of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has always denied the seriousness of the virus, censored social distancing measures and questioned the reliability of masks and vaccines.
With about 213 million inhabitants, Brazil has accumulated 35,696,918 infections and 691,178 deaths since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country nearly three years ago, according to official data. EFE extension
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