SAO PAULO (AP) — Death certificate data shows Brazil’s slowly unfolding vaccination program appears to have slowed the pace of deaths among the nation’s elderly. But COVID-19 is still taking a rising toll as unprotected younger people get sick. People 80 and over accounted for a quarter of the nation’s COVID-19 deaths in February, but less than a fifth in March. That’s according to data from thousands of the notaries who record death certificates in Brazil. But relatively few beyond the elderly have been protected: Less than 9 million of Brazil’s 210 million residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Deaths have jumped among those 20 to 59.
