Pfizer will vaccinate EVERYONE over age 12 in one Brazilian city to study how long protection lasts

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 will be vaccinated with COMIRNATY, provided by the Brazilian NIP, and the researchers will then evaluate the effectiveness profile of the vaccine in a real-world setting for a one-year period.’  

Comirnaty refers to the name that Pfizer and its German partner chose to formally brand their vaccine after it received full approval from regulators. 

About 98% of residents in Toledo (pictured in map above) have received at least one dose of the vaccine, mainly Pfizer’s shot

It comes after a similar study was conducted in Serrana, a smaller town in the state of São Paulo. 

For the study, the Butantan Institute, one of Brazil’s top biologic research centers, had all adults in Serrana vaccinated with the CoronaVac shot developed by Sinovac in China.

That study was believed to be the first-ever trial of an entire town or city being inoculated. 

In May, researchers said that infections and hospitalizations had dropped and the risk of death has been reduced by 95 percent.

The Institute is now considering testing the effectiveness of a third dose in Serrana’s population. 

On Saturday, Brazil became the second country in the world, after the U.S., to surpass 600,000 COVID-19 deaths.

President Jair Bolsonaro has resisted Covid mitigation measures despite contracting the virus himself last year.  

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has resisted Covid mitigation measures even as the country surpassed 600,000 virus-related deaths on Saturday. Pictured: Bolsonaro arrives for the announcement of a massive acquisition of intubation drugs to treat COVID-19 patients in Brasilia, May 2021

On Sunday, he expressed anger over not being able to attend a Brazilian championship soccer match because the home club did not allow unvaccinated attendees in the stands.  

‘Why a vaccine passport? I wanted to watch Santos now and they said I needed to be vaccinated. Why should that be?’ Bolsonaro told journalists, according to The Associated Press. 

Santos Football Club said the president had not asked to attend the match.

Over the summer, Brazil’s Supreme Court authorized a Senate investigation into Bolsonaro’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, he will be investigated to determine if he committed prevarication, which is the act of lying to intentionally mislead.