COVID-19 hospitalization now higher among kids than elders in Brazil

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BRASILIA. KAZINFORM The success of COVID-19 vaccination among the elderly and the low coverage in children under five has brought about a reversal in hospitalization figures for the disease in Brazil, research foundation Fiocruz reported.

Both age groups saw a drop in hospital admissions in the country, but the number of children hospitalized was almost double that of the elderly between August 14 and September 10, Agencia Brasil reports.

The study is based on epidemiological data from the Ministry of Health and says that 678 babies and kids under five were hospitalized for COVID-19 in Brazil during the time span, while hospitalized Brazilians over 60 totaled 387.

Elders are regarded as a risk group for severe cases of COVID-19 and hospitalization linked to the disease. The foundation notes that 90 thousand hospitalizations of people over 60 were reported from January to June 2022—compared to 7,800 for infants and children aged up to five.

The researchers state that, following the advance of vaccination among teenagers, adults, and elders, the hospitalization and mortality rates fell across all age groups, but among children under five years old the decrease has been slower. While among the elderly there was a 325 percent reduction in the average daily number of deaths from COVID-19, for children under five the drop stood at 250 percent.

This landscape has made children under five years old account for two of every five hospitalizations associated with COVID-19 in Brazil, starting in July 2022.

Children aged three and four can only be vaccinated with CoronaVac, approved for emergency use by nationl drug watchdog Anvisa on July 13. By September 23, only 2.5 percent of the people within this age group had been inoculated.

For infants aged six months to two years, Anvisa approved the use of pediatric Pfizer on September 16, but vaccination has not yet begun.

«Each day we go without vaccines applied in this age group, more than one child dies from COVID-19 in Brazil,» says Cristiano Boccolini, public health researcher at Fiocruz.


Photo: Agencia Brasil




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