Research developed by the Leônidas & Maria Deane Institute of the Oswaldo Cruz do Amazonas Foundation (ILMD/Fiocruz Amazônia), the State University of Amazonas (UEA) and the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel) showed a decline in the number of deaths from covid-19 among adolescents. 12 to 17 years old, during the most critical period of the third wave of the epidemic in 2022, between 23 January and 12 February.
On the contrary, the same study showed a substantial increase in deaths among children under 12 years of age, especially those under 5 years of age.
According to Fiocruz Amazônia epidemiologist Jesem Orellana, there was a 74% increase in mortality from covid-19 in children aged 5 to 11 years, compared to the most critical period of 2022 with the worst of 2021, which was in the second wave, between March 14th and April 3rd. Among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years vaccinated in 2021, there was a significant drop (40%) in mortality from covid-19 in the most critical period of the third wave compared to the also critical phase of the second wave.
According to the survey, the results are repeated in June 2022, during the fourth wave of infections, and the reason identified is the lack of children’s access to vaccination. “The pattern of increasing death in children was repeated and was 82% in those aged 2 to 4 years and 54% in children up to 1 year old. Therefore, in children, mortality rates were the same or worse than in previous phases of the epidemic, in contrast to the record of a consistent and strong fall in adults, reinforcing not only the effectiveness of the vaccine against covid-19, but also the importance of of its timely and massive use”, added Orellana, one of the authors of the study.
The final sample evaluated totaled 408,120 mortality records, with 0.34% (1,407 deaths) in children under 18 years of age and 64.6% (263,771) in adults aged 60 years and over. “Opposite patterns in Covid-19 mortality were observed in Brazil, with children mostly unvaccinated, or insufficiently protected by mass vaccination, on the one hand, and having mortality rates equal to or higher than in earlier phases of the epidemic and, on the other hand, on the other, a consistent and strong pattern of decline in individuals included in the national vaccination campaign”, he commented.
Orellana warned that the impact of Covid-19 mortality on children continues to increase in Brazil, especially those who have not yet been vaccinated. The survey also highlighted the sharp drop in adult mortality in the country. For Orellana, this may be a consequence of the protective effect of vaccines, despite the context of wide circulation of the Ômicron variant, much more contagious than original versions of the new coronavirus.
The study was also signed by professors Lihsieh Marrero, from the Higher School of Health Sciences, in Amazonas, and Bernardo Lessa Horta, from the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University of Pelotas, in Rio Grande do Sul (RS).
Fiocruz informed that the article Mortality from Covid-19 in Brazil in Different Age Groups: Differentials between Extreme Rates in 2021 and 2022 has been accepted for publication and will soon be available in full in the journal Public Health Notebooks of the National School of Public Health (Ensp/ Fiocruz).
