Immunogenicity and safety of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (CoronaVac) using two-dose primary protocol in children and adolescents (Immunita-002, Brazil): A phase IV six-month follow up.

Introduction: Vaccines are essential for the prevention and control of several diseases, indeed, monitoring the immune response generated by vaccines is crucial. The immune response generated by vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in children and adolescents is not well defined regarding to the intensity and medium to long-term duration of a protective immune response, which may point out the need of booster doses and might support the decisions in public health.

Objective: The study aims to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (CoronaVac) in a two-dose primary protocol in children and adolescent aging from 3 to 17 years old in Brazil.

Measuring misclassification of Covid-19 as garbage codes: Results of investigating 1,365 deaths and implications for vital statistics in Brazil.

The purpose of this article is to quantify the amount of misclassification of the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) mortality occurring in hospitals and other health facilities in selected cities in Brazil, discuss potential factors contributing to this misclassification, and consider the implications for vital statistics. Hospital deaths assigned to causes classified as garbage code (GC) COVID-related cases (severe acute respiratory syndrome, pneumonia unspecified, sepsis, respiratory failure and ill-defined causes) were selected in three Brazilian state capitals. Data from medical charts and forensic reports were extracted from standard forms and analyzed by study physicians who re-assigned the underlying cause based on standardized criteria.

Higher mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in socially vulnerable areas in Belo Horizonte: implications for vaccine prioritization.

Objective: To assess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic according to social vulnerability by areas of Belo Horizonte (BH), aiming at strategies for vaccination.

Methods: Ecological study with mortality analysis according to census tracts classified by the Health Vulnerability Index, a composite indicator that includes socioeconomic and sanitation variables. Deaths by natural causes and by COVID-19 were obtained from the "Mortality Information System", between the 10th and 43rd epidemiological weeks (EW) of 2020.

The importance of surveillance in cases of and mortality from the COVID-19 epidemic in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2020.

Objectives: This study aims to describe the actions carried out by the epidemiological surveillance system in Belo Horizonte to address the COVID-19 epidemic and the timeless of the data for detecting transmission in 2020.

Methods: The sources of information used by the epidemiological surveillance of the municipality for COVID-19 were identified and the temporal distribution and interval for detection of confirmed cases of the disease were analyzed.

Results: The city's epidemiological surveillance uses outpatient, hospital, public and private laboratory notifications as data sources.

Change in the profile of causes of death after investigation of hospital deaths in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2017.

Introduction: Deaths certified with ill-defined causes or garbage codes (GC) compromise the analysis of mortality and its use for planning and evaluation of public health policies. The hospital investigation of these causes is one of the strategies qualifying the profile of mortality in the country.

Objective: To evaluate the change in the hospital mortality profile after investigation of deaths certified with GC in 2017 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Evaluation of a smartphone application to improve medical certification of the cause of death.

Introduction: A smartphone application named AtestaDO was developed to support physicians with medical certification of the cause of death. The objective of this study is to evaluate the acceptability of the app.

Methods: Physicians were invited to attend meetings on the proper certification of cause of death, and to evaluate the application in a national workshop in Natal (first stage) and in two large hospitals in Belo Horizonte (second and third stages).

[Aedes aegypti infestation and occurrence of dengue in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil].

Objective: To assess the association between the proportion of buildings positive for Aedes aegypti larvae measured by means of building infestation rate and dengue incidence rate.

Methods: Autochthonous dengue cases were selected and building infestation rates assessed in the coverage areas of health districts in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, from October 1997 to May 2001. After grouping building infestation rates according to their distribution in quartiles, mean dengue incidence rates (for the month following the building infestation assessment) were compared using ANOVA.