‘Project S’, a scientific experiment in which almost all adult residents of a Brazilian provincial town have been vaccinated, is a great success, according to the initiators. In the past three months, more than 95 percent of the residents of Serrana in the state of So Paulo received two doses of the CoronaVac vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac.
Scientists from the Butantan Institute then monitored the more than 27,000 volunteers. They now conclude that the massive vaccination campaign has reduced the town’s coronavirus deaths by 95 percent and hospitalizations by 86 percent.
‘Under control at 75 percent vaccination rate’
The Butantan Institute comes under the state government of Governor João Doria, a political rival of President Bolsonaro. “The investigation shows that the pandemic in Serrana was brought under control from 75 percent vaccination coverage,” the governor said in a news conference.
He took the opportunity to criticize Bolsonaro’s corona policy. Doria: “This proves that the pandemic across Brazil could have been under control if the vaccination campaign hadn’t been so slow”. Last weekend, people took to the streets in at least sixteen Brazilian cities to demonstrate against Bolsonaro’s corona approach.
450,000 dead
Some 450,000 Brazilians have succumbed to the virus, according to official figures, but Bolsonaro has always downplayed its seriousness. For example, he openly doubted the usefulness of vaccines and did not consider wearing face masks necessary.
In Brazil, more than 10 percent of the adult population has so far been fully vaccinated, about 22 million people. Most received the CoronaVac vaccine, which was also used in the Serrana project.
Also protection against variant
The researchers emphasize that the achieved group immunity also protects children and other residents of Serrana who have not been vaccinated. The start of the vaccination trial in Serrana also coincided with the emergence of the Brazilian P1 variant of the coronavirus.
The scientists at the Butantan Institute say that the CoronaVac vaccine has now been shown to work against that mutation. The director of the institute, Dima Covas, emphasizes the importance of ‘Project S’. “This is the world’s first controlled study on this scale,” he said.
“During a pandemic, these kinds of experiments are extremely important for determining effective policies.” For now, the results have not yet been published in a scientific journal. That will only happen in about three months, the director said.
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