The vaccine requires about fifteen days to reach full protective strength.
Em Campinas, dez vidas foram levadas pela gripe em 2025 — a maioria entre aqueles que nunca receberam a vacina, embora até os vacinados com condições preexistentes não estejam a salvo. A cidade enfrenta uma escalada silenciosa: os casos respiratórios mais que dobraram desde janeiro, e as unidades pediátricas operam sob pressão crescente. A proteção existe e está disponível, mas a adesão permanece aquém do necessário, revelando uma distância persistente entre o recurso oferecido e a escolha feita.
- Dez mortes por gripe em 2025 — quinze por cento dos casos confirmados — expõem a letalidade da doença especialmente entre quem carrega condições de saúde preexistentes.
- Os casos respiratórios nas unidades básicas de saúde cresceram mais de 116% desde janeiro, e uma única unidade pediátrica atendeu 216 crianças em uma manhã de segunda-feira.
- A cobertura vacinal nos grupos mais vulneráveis permanece preocupantemente baixa: apenas 51% dos idosos, 35% das crianças e 55% das gestantes foram imunizados até agora.
- A prefeitura ampliou a vacinação para todos acima de seis meses desde 1º de junho e instalou postos no terminal de ônibus para alcançar quem não consegue ir aos centros de saúde.
- A campanha segue até o fim de julho, mas a janela de proteção se estreita enquanto a circulação do vírus se intensifica na cidade.
Campinas chegou a dez mortes por Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave causada por influenza em 2025. A décima vítima foi um homem de 69 anos, vacinado, mas portador de comorbidades, que morreu em 12 de maio. Esses dez óbitos representam cerca de quinze por cento de todos os casos confirmados de gripe na cidade este ano.
O contexto de 2024 oferece uma medida da gravidade: foram 552 casos e 67 mortes por gripe grave. De todas essas mortes, 53 ocorreram entre pessoas não vacinadas. Quase todas as vítimas — 66 das 67 — pertenciam a grupos de risco, reforçando que a doença cobra preço mais alto de quem já carrega outras fragilidades.
Desde o início da campanha, em 28 de março, Campinas aplicou quase 240 mil doses. Ainda assim, a cobertura nos grupos prioritários é insuficiente: 51% entre idosos, 35% entre crianças pequenas e 55% entre gestantes. Desde 1º de junho, a vacina está disponível para qualquer pessoa com mais de seis meses de idade.
O sistema de saúde sente o peso. Entre meados de abril e o fim de maio, os atendimentos por sintomas respiratórios nas unidades básicas mais que dobraram em relação ao início do ano. A unidade pediátrica Mário Gattinho registrou 216 atendimentos em uma única segunda-feira de junho — vinte e dois por cento acima da média de maio — incluindo dois casos críticos chegados à noite.
A prefeitura mantém postos de vacinação no terminal de ônibus e em uma paróquia que substituiu temporariamente o Centro de Saúde do Centro. A campanha segue até julho. A estrutura de prevenção está montada; o que ainda falta é que mais pessoas a utilizem.
Campinas has now recorded ten deaths from severe acute respiratory illness caused by influenza since the start of 2025. The latest victim was a 69-year-old man with underlying health conditions who had been vaccinated. He died on May 12. These ten deaths represent roughly fifteen percent of all confirmed flu cases in the city this year—a stark reminder that even vaccination does not guarantee survival for those already weakened by other illnesses.
The broader picture is grimmer. Across all of 2024, Campinas saw 552 flu cases and 67 deaths from severe respiratory illness caused by influenza. Of those deaths, 53 occurred among people who had never received the flu vaccine. Fourteen vaccinated residents died, though twelve of them had achieved adequate immunity—the vaccine requires about fifteen days to reach full protective strength. The other two showed symptoms before that window closed. Nearly all the dead, whether vaccinated or not, carried the weight of preexisting conditions: 66 of the 67 victims belonged to high-risk groups.
Yet vaccination rates among those most vulnerable remain stubbornly low. Since the city's immunization campaign began on March 28, health officials have administered 239,672 doses of flu vaccine. Of those, 142,937 went to the priority groups defined by the national vaccination calendar: children aged six months to five years, pregnant women, and elderly residents. The numbers tell a cautious story. Among seniors, 114,117 doses were given—just over fifty-one percent coverage. For young children, the rate dropped to thirty-five percent. Pregnant women reached fifty-five percent. These gaps persist even as the vaccine has been available in health centers across the city since June 1, when eligibility expanded to include everyone six months and older.
The health system is straining under the weight of respiratory illness more broadly. In the six weeks between mid-April and late May, basic health centers recorded 896 cases of respiratory symptoms in one week and 1,439 in another. Compared to the first week of the year, that represents a rise of more than 116 percent. The pediatric units are particularly overwhelmed. On a single Monday in early June, the Mário Gattinho pediatric facility handled 216 visits—a twenty-two percent jump above the May average. That same day, seventeen urgent cases arrived between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., including two emergencies flagged as critical. Across the entire Mário Gatti network, pediatric visits that day totaled 807, well above the daily average of 613 since May began.
City health officials are pushing vaccination as the primary defense against severe illness and death. The campaign will continue through the end of July. In a bid to reach people who cannot easily visit health centers, the city set up vaccination stations at the bus terminal, offering shots from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Centro health center, unable to operate from its usual location, now administers vaccines at the Divino Salvador Parish on Avenida Júlio de Mesquita. The machinery of prevention is in place. Whether enough people use it remains an open question.
Citações Notáveis
The vaccine requires about fifteen days to guarantee optimal protection, and among the fourteen vaccinated residents who died, twelve had achieved adequate immunity.— Campinas health authorities
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a vaccinated person still die from the flu? Doesn't the vaccine work?
It works, but not perfectly, and not instantly. The vaccine takes about two weeks to build real protection. If you get infected before then, you're still vulnerable. And if you're already sick with something else—heart disease, diabetes, lung problems—the flu can push your body past what it can handle, even with the vaccine on board.
So the vaccine is more about preventing the worst outcomes than preventing infection entirely?
Exactly. Among the fourteen vaccinated people who died this year in Campinas, twelve had actually achieved full immunity. The vaccine didn't fail them. Their bodies did. They were already fragile.
Then why are vaccination rates so low? If people know this, why aren't they getting the shot?
That's the puzzle. The vaccine has been available since late March. It's free. It's at health centers all over the city. And yet only about half the elderly have gotten it, only a third of young children. Maybe people don't believe they're at risk. Maybe they're busy. Maybe they don't trust it.
The numbers show respiratory illness is surging, though. Isn't that a wake-up call?
You'd think so. Cases are up 116 percent since January. Pediatric units are packed. But awareness and action are two different things. The city is even setting up vaccine stations at the bus terminal now, trying to meet people where they are. It's a sign of how hard it is to reach people, even when the danger is real.
What happens if vaccination rates don't improve by the end of July when the campaign ends?
The virus doesn't stop in August. It keeps circulating. More people will get sick. Some will die. The city will have done what it could, but the outcome will depend on choices people make now.