An entire Brazilian city will be vaccinated against COVID-19 in a giant experiment to test whether vaccines reduce the spread of the virus.
The city of Serrana, in the state of São Paulo, is home to around 30,000 adults, who will receive the vaccine COVID-19 in the next three months, as part of a survey conducted by the Butantan Institute in Brazil.
The CoronaVac vaccine, developed by the Chinese company Sinovac, will be offered to all residents of the city over 18 (except pregnant or lactating women and those with serious illnesses), developed by the Chinese company Sinovac, CNN reported. The purpose of the study, known as “Project S”, is to find out whether the vaccine will reduce the spread of the virus.
Related: 20 of the worst epidemics and pandemics in history
Although clinical trials have clearly shown that Sinovac and other COVID-19 vaccines decrease the chances of developing symptomatic disease, data on whether vaccines can completely prevent infections (even asymptomatic ones) remain limited. Some of the first tips suggest that at least some vaccines can prevent infections; A few weeks ago, the University of Oxford published data indicating that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine could slow the spread of the virus, Live Science previously reported.
Of course, each vaccine is likely to be different in its ability to prevent infection, just as each has a different effectiveness in preventing mild or serious illnesses. Last month, the Butantan Institute announced that the CoronaVac vaccine was 50.4% effective against symptomatic infection in Brazil, Live Science reported earlier. Still, CoronaVac was 100% effective against death, according to The Associated Press (AP).
People will be able to enter and leave the city and participation in the study – which has already started – will not be mandatory, but it should be high, the AP said. Participants will be followed for up to one year, but the first results should arrive in 12 weeks, according to the AP.
“Based on what we are going to learn here, we will be able to tell the rest of the world what the real effect of the vaccination against COVID-19 is,” said Ricardo Palacios, director of clinical studies at the Butantan CNN Institute.
The announcement of this study sparked a rush to buy and rent a property in Serrana, with people arriving in the hope of becoming residents to be able to participate in the study and get the vaccine, according to The Guardian. But officials said they would need a residency record to enroll in the trial, according to the AP.
Brazil is one of the countries hardest hit by the new coronavirus, with almost 10 million cases of COVID-19 to date and more than 242,000 deaths, according to The Johns Hopkins Dashboard. The supply of vaccines is decreasing and has already ended in several cities, according to the AP. But a special batch of vaccines has been designated for this study, so there is no risk of ending up in Serrana.
Originally published on Live Science.