The Covid-19 death toll fell by 95 per cent in Brazil’s Serrana where all adults of the town’s 45,000 inhabitants were vaccinated as part of an experiment. The researchers used the Chinese vaccine Coronavac which received the World Health Organization’s emergency use approval .
The researchers concluded that those who did not take their shots were also protected due to the reduction in the virus’s circulation. The experiment was carried out between February and April by Instituto Butantan, which produces CoronaVac developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech.
After about 75 per cent of the population over the age of 18 had been given both doses. “The most important result is that we can control the pandemic without having to vaccinate the whole population,” Ricardo Palacios, research director, said.
When 95% of adults were fully vaccinated, researchers said the results showed that:
- Deaths fell by 95 per cent
- Hospitalisations fell by 86 per cent
- Symptomatic cases fell by 80 per cent
There was also a fall in the number of cases in those under age 20 who had not been vaccinated, indicating that there was no need to vaccinate children for schools to reopen, the research director said.
Brazil is the second-hardest-hit country in the coronavirus pandemic, after the United States. Having recorded nearly 4,63,000 Covid deaths, the country is struggling with a slow vaccination campaign due to insufficient jabs. On average, the daily deaths and cases in the country continue to remain high amid a lack of co-ordinated measures to curb infections.
Meanwhile, Brazil is also helping carry out Phase 3 testing of another experimental vaccine, developed by Oxford University and pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.
