Pfizer says it will vaccinate everyone in one Brazilian city to study the effectiveness of its COVID-19 shot in a 'real-world setting.'
All residents aged 12 and older in Toledo - in the southwestern part of the country near the border with Paraguay - will be fully vaccinated with the jab.
The study, which will be conducted by Brazil's National Vaccination Program, local health authorities, a hospital and a university, will follow residents for one year and study the safety of the vaccine, how long protection lasts and if it's effective against new variants.
About 98 percent of the 143,000 people who live in Toledo have received at least one shot, mainly of the Pfizer vaccine.
Pfizer says it is planning to fully vaccinate everyone over age 12 against COVID-19 in Toledo, a city in southwest Brazil. Pictured: Carlos Eduardo de Carvalho, 14, receives the Pfizer Covid in Rio de Janeiro, September 2021
Researchers will examine the safety of the Pfizer vaccine, how long protection lasts and if it's effective against new variants. Pictured: Municipality of Toledo, date unknown
'Here we believe in science and we lament the almost 600,000 deaths from COVID-19 in Brazil,' Toledo's Mayor Beto Lunitti said at a news conference, according to Reuters.
Pfizer described the study as a 'real-life setting' studying how well the vaccine protects after an entire population has been vaccinated.
'Pfizer Brazil entered into a collaboration with Brazil National Immunization Program, the Federal University of Paraná and the Municipal Health Department of Toledo (PR) and Hospital Moinhos de Vento to conduct an observational study aimed to assess the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine...in the city of Toledo, state of Paraná,' the firm told DailyMail.com in a statement.
'The population above 12-years-old
