Pfizer study to vaccinate whole Brazilian town against COVID

Pfizer will study the effectiveness of its vaccine against COVID-19 by inoculating the whole population over the age of 12 in a town in southern Brazil, the company said on Wednesday.

The study will be conducted in Toledo, population 143,000, in the west of Parana state, together with Brazil's National Vaccination Program, local health authorities, a hospital and the federal university.

Pfizer said the purpose was to study the behaviour of COVID-19 in a "real life scenario" after the population has been vaccinated.

"The initiative is the first and only of its kind to be undertaken in a developing country in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company," it added.