The city of Serrana, located in Brazil's São Paulo state, has become the testing ground for a first-of-its-kind study examining how effectively China's CoronaVac vaccine can control COVID-19 transmission at scale. Health officials aim to vaccinate all 30,000 adult residents by April 2023, creating a real-world model of herd immunity.
The project—a collaboration between Brazil's Butantan Institute and Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac—could provide critical data for global vaccination strategies. CoronaVac, which showed 50-90% efficacy in prior trials depending on dosage timing, is already used in 23 countries and regions.
'This is about understanding how vaccination impacts community transmission, not just individual protection,' explained São Paulo Health Secretary Jean Gorinchteyn. Results will be compared with unvaccinated neighboring cities through August 2023.
The initiative highlights growing South-South health partnerships, with Brazil receiving 46 million CoronaVac doses from the Chinese mainland as of March 2023. For global health experts, Serrana's outcomes may shape vaccination approaches in emerging markets battling new variants.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
