Brazil has had a record number of vaccine-preventable child deaths since 2015

On October 28, the column asked for an interview with a representative of the PNI (National Immunization Program), linked to the Ministry of Health, but received no response.

Numbers underestimate other diseases

For Juarez Cunha, the data classified as preventable by vaccination in the SIM is underestimated, as it does not include diseases with vaccines, such as covid and influenza. “These two should also be considered because they are vaccine-preventable,” he says.

THE Facto News consulted influenza data and saw that 116 children aged 0 to 4 years died in 2024, but they are not deaths classified as vaccine-preventable. Covid-19 is part of a list of other infections, making it impossible to know the exact number using the SIM.

Juarez mentions that the rising numbers are a direct reflection of the drop in vaccination coverage, which reduced alarmingly between 2019 and 2021, and then improved from 2022 onwards. “But we still have many of them falling. Influenza vaccination only reached 50% of the target audience of pregnant women”, he says.