Thread by @lorenagbarberia

In the Solidarity Research Network on Public Policy and Society @RedePesquisa, we have just released a new policy brief on the critical situation facing children and teens in Brazil. Here are some key findings. Please read if you want to learn more. 1/15

Brazil has made considerable advances in vaccinating teens (70% with 1 dose). Nevertheless, only 8% of teens have received 2 doses, and substantial heterogeneity across Brazilian states.2/15

Children are a sizeable share of the Brazilian population. State average= 16%, but again heterogeneity matters. The Brazilian regulatory agency has not authorized (and no clinical trials being undertaken) vaccines for children 11 yrs and younger. 3/15

Why are we concerned? b/c 1) schools are reopening without sufficient safety in prevention as we have documented in our past policy briefs. 4/15 redepesquisasolidaria.org/en/bulletins/a…

2) Brazil lacks systematic and sufficient testing of these vulnerable age groups. Here, we show RT-PCR tests in public labs in Sao Paulo during school reopening in 2021. Children and teens are the age groups with less testing. 5/15

3/The testing policies in state reopening and municipal guidelines for schools emphasize sending students to get tested ex-post as a recommendation, and not as a mandatory policy. Contact tracing and quarantine are not reqd in most programs analyzed. 6/15

4/ Hospitalization of children and adolescents with SARS-CoV-2 increased both in 2020 and 2021 as the data analyzed by @leosbastos shows in this figure. 7/15

5/ Unfortunately death rates also increased for these age groups. The lethality rates are also worrisome. @leosbastos calculated this rate is 4-5% for children 0-9 years old. 8/15

There is so much that can be done to improve! As @AlexandraBoing stresses, in countries with relatively young populations, such as 🇧🇷, high vaccine coverage (80%) depends on vaccinating teens and children. 9/15

We advocate that Brazilian authorities should seek authorization and procure vaccines for these age groups, and we are especially concerned about what efforts are being undertaken to RAPIDLY protect children 11 years and younger. 10/15

School reopening guidelines need to be further strengthened. High-quality masks N95 need to be distributed and used in schools. Physical distancing, ventilation, etc. efforts must be enforced in schools. 11/15

Testing efforts directed at children and teens including active testing programs in schools must be strengthened as school re-opening efforts are furthered, and the data from these efforts need to be shared transparently and rapidly by educational and health authorities. 12/15

We want to give a special thanks to all of the researchers across Brazil who have contributed to writing this brief @leosbastos @AlexandraBoing and colleagues at @obscovid19br + @RedePesquisa including @TatiMoraesSousa @luizgcanta @vileladara @MairaMeyer @marcelamzamudio. 13/15

Our data are publicly available, and we are happy to answer questions or discuss our findings further. 14/15 A special thanks to @trishgreenhalgh @dgurdasani1 whose ongoing work on school reopenings in the UK has helped our research efforts.

@PeterHotez @apoorva_nyc @sneweyy @CaddeProject @Laurie_Garrett @SofiaGruskin @OxfordBSP @HarvardDRCLAS @BrazilInst @BrazilFunding @Parents_Utd @SafeEdForAll_UK