Oct 10, 2021 - Health

Pfizer to vaccinate entire Brazilian city as part of study

Ivana Saric

A healthcare worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine — A health care worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to a teenager on Paqueta Island, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Photo: Maria Magdalena Arrellaga/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Pfizer will vaccinate all residents over the age of 12 in the Brazilian city of Toledo as part of a study measuring the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine, the company said in a statement.

Why it matters: Researchers in the study hope to monitor viral transmission in a real-life scenario after the population has been inoculated.

The big picture: The study will be in conjunction with Brazil's National Vaccination Program, local health authorities, a hospital and a federal university, Reuters reports.

The study will follow the residents for up to one year to see how long vaccine protection lasts, Pfizer said in a statement.

Background: Toledo, which has a population of about 143,000, has already seen 98% of its population take a first dose, and 56% are fully vaccinated, per Reuters.

"Here we believe in science and we lament the almost 600,000 deaths from COVID-19 in Brazil," said Beto Lunitti, the town's mayor, at a news conference Wednesday.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the statement from Pfizer.

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Pfizer to vaccinate entire Brazilian city as part of study

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