For the first time this viral respiratory season, a child has died from COVID-19 in Colorado.
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’s viral respiratory diseases dashboard as the first since Oct. 1, 2025. In the same timeframe, there have been three pediatric deaths from influenza.
“Unfortunately, we know that COVID-19 continues to cause severe illness in children,” said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist. “And as this death represents, we do see mortality associated with the virus.”
The vaccine is effective at preventing the most severe cases, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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.
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 last year.
It examined the vaccine effectiveness of the 2024–25 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–4 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.
‘They don't have prior protection’
“We do have really strong data that continues to support the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine in children,” Herlihy said, who noted the youngest children have the highest risk after the oldest populations, because their bodies haven’t yet built up immunity through either immunization or infection.
“They don't have prior protection,” she said. “We 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.”
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 in Colorado since 2019.
Many of those came after the vaccines first became available, for older children in 2021, and then for younger children the following year.
Bad viral season
This death comes in the middle of what has been a bad flu season, both in the state and nationally. Colorado recorded two pediatric flu deaths in January and one in December.
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.
“Any childhood death obviously is a tragedy. Unfortunately, we do still see some severe COVID in kids,” said Colorado pediatrician Sean O’Leary, chair of an infectious disease committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “COVID 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.”
O’Leary said it’s 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.
“We continue to operate our mobile public health clinic, the vaccines are available through local public health agencies and providers' offices,” Herlihy said. “Pharmacies continue to be a great source of vaccines, including for children, though I think it’s always good to call ahead and check the age groups that are vaccinated in the pharmacy that you might be going to.”
Just 12.6 percent of Colorado residents have received a COVID-19 vaccination this season, according to state data. That’s 3.5 percentage points lower than last year.
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.
Discord over recommended shots
Colorado’s first pediatric death of the season comes as the Trump administration and proponents of vaccines disagree over whether to take COVID vaccines off the market, Axios reports. A leader on the federal vaccine advisory committee, which now includes a number of vaccine skeptics, has publicly suggested it.
Most children with an infection due to COVID-19, also called SARS-CoV-2, don’t have symptoms or have mild illness, including fever and cough, sore throat, headache, fatigue and shortness of breath, according to the CDC.
O’Leary urges parents and guardians of children to discuss COVID-19 vaccination with their physician or other medical provider.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends COVID-19 vaccination as follows, according to its website:
- Completion of an initial vaccination series for everyone ages 6-23 months of age, or a single dose for those under age 2 years who previously completed their initial series.
- Two or more doses for children 6 months -18 years of age who are moderately or severely immunocompromised.
- A single dose for all children and adolescents ages 2-18who are at high risk for severe COVID-19, residents of long-term care facilities or other congregate settings, persons who have never been vaccinated against COVID-19, or persons whose household contacts are at high risk for severe COVID-19
- Children 2-18 years of age whose parent or guardian desires protection from COVID-19 for their child should be offered a single dose.
