For the first time this viral respiratory season, a child has died from COVID-19 in Colorado.<\/p>\n
The state epidemiologist said the case was in a high school-aged child in the Denver area. The death in December was recorded on the state\u2019s viral respiratory diseases dashboard<\/a> as the first since Oct. 1, 2025. In the same timeframe, there have been three pediatric deaths from influenza.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, we know that COVID-19 continues to cause severe illness in children,\u201d said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist. \u201cAnd as this death represents, we do see mortality associated with the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n The vaccine is effective at preventing the most severe cases, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n By a wide margin, most children in the U.S. who get hospitalized for COVID-19 are unvaccinated. COVID-19 vaccination rates for the youngest Coloradans are low.<\/p>\n Fewer than 5 percent of children who were hospitalized for COVID-19 between 2022-24 were up to date on COVID-19 vaccination; 40 percent of those hospitalized did not have any underlying conditions, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n It examined the vaccine effectiveness<\/a> of the 2024\u201325 COVID-19 vaccination, the most recent season where data is available. It was an estimated 76 percent effective against COVID-19-associated emergency department or urgent care visits among children aged 9 months\u20134 years with healthy immune systems and an estimated 56 percent among children and adolescents ages 5-17 years, compared with those who did not receive a vaccine during the season.<\/p>\n \u2018They don’t have prior protection\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWe do have really strong data that continues to support the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine in children,\u201d Herlihy said, who noted the youngest children have the highest risk after the oldest populations, because their bodies haven\u2019t yet built up immunity through either immunization or infection.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey don’t have prior protection,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know as those children age, their risk of being exposed to COVID is going to increase. So, absolutely, we want to see those very young children be protected. Those very youngest children are where we see the highest risk of mortality.\u201d <\/p>\n The death was the fifth pediatric COVID-19 death of 2025, according to the state health department. Starting in 2020, the number of children who have died of COVID is 47, which is more than triple the 13 children who have died from the flu<\/a> in Colorado since 2019. <\/p>\n Many of those came after the vaccines first became available, for older children in 2021, and then for younger children the following year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Bad viral season<\/p>\n This death comes in the middle of what has been a bad flu season<\/a>, both in the state and nationally. Colorado recorded<\/a> two pediatric flu deaths in January and one in December.<\/p>\n The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has reported 1,105 COVID-19 hospital admissions since Oct. 1, 2025. More than 4,200 Coloradans have been hospitalized with flu and more than 600 have been hospitalized with the respiratory virus RSV.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAny childhood death obviously is a tragedy. Unfortunately, we do still see some severe COVID in kids,\u201d said Colorado pediatrician Sean O\u2019Leary, chair of an infectious disease committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics. \u201cCOVID tends to be less severe in kids, but it’s a mistake to say it’s completely benign. We do, unfortunately, sometimes see really bad outcomes, including occasional deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Leary said it\u2019s not too late this season to get a COVID-19 vaccine, as well as one for the flu, which he said could surge again in the state this season.<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to operate our mobile public health clinic, the vaccines are available through local public health agencies and providers’ offices,\u201d Herlihy said. \u201cPharmacies continue to be a great source of vaccines, including for children, though I think it\u2019s always good to call ahead and check the age groups that are vaccinated in the pharmacy that you might be going to.\u201d<\/p>\n Just 12.6 percent of Colorado residents have received a COVID-19 vaccination this season, according to state data<\/a>. That\u2019s 3.5 percentage points lower than last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The rates are even lower for the youngest Coloradans. Just 6.2 percent of those 6 months to 9- years- old have gotten a coronavirus vaccine; 5.2 percent of 10-19- year-olds have received it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Discord over recommended shots<\/p>\n Colorado\u2019s first pediatric death of the season comes as the Trump administration and proponents of vaccines disagree over whether to take COVID vaccines<\/a> off the market, Axios reports<\/a>. A leader on the federal vaccine advisory committee, which now includes a number of vaccine skeptics, has publicly suggested it.<\/p>\n