Astrazeneca vaccine achieves 57% efficacy against Covid-19 infection in young people up to 35 years old, 21 days after the first dose. The results are part of the mass vaccination project led by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), in the Maré favela complex, in Rio de Janeiro.
Data on deaths and hospitalizations were not analyzed, but the rate of contamination and transmission of the new coronavirus among residents was analyzed.
The study vaccinated 36,933 adults with the first dose of Oxford vaccine. Considering all ages, the effectiveness of the immunizing agent for infections of the disease drops to almost 43%.
The results are published in pre-print, and were submitted to the Clinical Infectious Disease Journal.
Researcher Fernando Bozza, coordinator of the study, explains the importance of this type of research with the increasingly strong circulation of variants of the disease in a community of low-income people.
“In this case, we attest to the collective effect of the vaccination, and not the individual effect. When we look to reduce the transmission of the disease, we see that it has significant protection in collective terms. Most effectiveness studies are carried out in first world countries and there is a lack of data on the most vulnerable population”, he explains.
The study is coordinated by the project Conexão Saúde, owned by Fiocruz, and began last year during the new Coronavirus pandemic. The initial idea was to map, test and offer care for the disease in the community, in partnership with the NGO Redes da Maré and with SAS Brasil.
start of study
The mass vaccination study in Maré began on July 29, 2021. It was the first mass vaccination study in a favela.
Made up of 16 favelas, Complexo da Maré has around 140,000 inhabitants, most of them young, under 30 years of age. The number of people currently living in Maré is higher than that of cities such as Cubatão (SP), Resende (RJ), Crato (CE) and Pinhais (PR).
The aim of the study is to know the effectiveness of the vaccine against coronavirus variants and the way in which the disease is spread; in addition to monitoring 2,000 families to identify transmission within the home.
On October 14 this year, residents began taking the second dose of the immunizing agent. Researchers are now analyzing vaccine efficacy data in the population that completed the vaccine schedule.
*under the supervision of Helena Vieira.
Reference: CNN Brasil
