Brazil To Assess COVID-19 Vaccination Impacts in a Small Town

Brazil's Butantan Institute Director Dimas Covas on Monday announced a clinical study that plans to vaccinate the entire adult population in Sao Paulo State's Serrana municipality to evaluate the epidemiological impact of COVID-19 vaccinations.

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The study will begin on Feb. 17 with the vaccination of 30,000 people over 18 years of age, who will be inoculated with the Coronavac vaccine produced in collaboration with the Chinese laboratory Sinovac.

The study named "Project S" aims to establish the effect of mass vaccination on the pandemic's evolution, including the evaluation of possible herd immunity. 

The Serrana municipality was chosen because of its small population and its high infection rate. The study results should be available three months after the start of immunization. 

Having reported over nine million COVID-19 cases since the outbreak of the pandemic, Brazil places second in the world in terms of COVID-19 related deaths.

Sao Paulo State has around 46 million inhabitants and concentrates the highest number of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the country. 

Covas noted that over 3.7 million people have been vaccinated since Jan. 17, adding that the Health Ministry's work indicates that 150 million out of 216 million inhabitants might be vaccinated this year.