Government of São Paulo Will Immunize The Entire Vaccinable Population of a Small Town to Assess The Effect on Covid

About 30 thousand inhabitants of Serrana will be vaccinated to measure the effects of Coronavac in containing the epidemic

São Paulo

The municipality of Serrana (316 km from the capital), in the interior of the state of São Paulo, will host the first study in the world to assess the so-called effectiveness of vaccines against Covid-19.

The study, called Project S, was designed and developed by the Butantan Institute in partnership with the State Hospital of Serrana, linked to the state government, and the City of Serrana.

A health worker shows a vial of the Sinovac's CoronaVac coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine. REUTERS/Rodolfo Buhrer ORG XMIT: GGG-SMS213 - REUTERS

Serrana is part of the regional health department of Ribeirão Preto, 10 km from the municipality. The classification of the pandemic in the region according to the SP Plan is orange phase. The municipality had, until last Sunday (7), 1,638 cases of Covid-19 and 52 registered deaths.

Coronavac, a vaccine developed by the Chinese laboratory Sinovac and produced in the country in partnership with the Butantan Institute, has proven efficacy in a clinical trial conducted in Brazil of 50.38%.

However, the effectiveness calculated during a clinical trial, designed to assess the outcome of thousands of people who receive the vaccine compared to those who received a harmless compound (placebo), is different from its effectiveness when used in the population as a whole.

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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