Cuban vaccine enters third phase trials

Cuba will apply experimental Covid-19 doses to nearly the whole population of the capital Havana by May 2021 as health authorities carry out extensive interventional studies and late-stage trials, officials said on Tuesday.

Cuba vaccination rate highest in Latin America, Haiti lowest
Cuba vaccination rate highest in Latin America, Haiti lowest

Cuba: Cuba will apply experimental Covid-19 doses to nearly the whole population of the capital Havana by May 2021 as health authorities carry out extensive interventional studies and late-stage trials, officials said on Tuesday.

Cuba, which has a rich history of developing and exporting vaccines, this month started late-phase trials of two of its five experimental shots, Soberana 2 and Abdala, which will be Latin America’s 1st homegrown coronavirus vaccines if they prove triumphant.

Ileana Morales, the Ministry of Health director of science & technological innovation, noted on a roundtable broadcast on state television that authorities would manage intervention research in 1.7 million people in Havana by May.

That comes on top of one; it has already begun for 150,000 frontline workers in the city, which is supposed to have 2.1 million inhabitants.

Cuba’s capital is at the core of its worst COVID-19 outbreak since the start of the pandemic, registering 292 cases per 100,000 inhabitants compared with a nationwide average of 103.5, Deputy Health Minister Carilda Peña said.

Authorities could seek permission for emergency use of Abdala & Soberana 2, which both target the spike protein of the novel coronavirus, in June, Morales said.

“With the consent of emergency use… we would be on track to a more huge vaccination of the population,” said Morales.

That mass vaccination would begin with the most at-risk groups, including the over-60 and health care workers. By August, 6 million people should have received a vaccine, with all Cuba’s 11 million inhabitants vaccinated by year-end, Morales said.

Cuba is recording 600 to 1,000 new cases a day, well above the scores or a handful per day for most of last year. Since the COVID pandemic started, the country has reported 68,250 cases and 401 deaths, one of the lowest rates in the world per capita.

Government critics have said that Cuba should have purchased approved vaccines from overseas to kick off its immunization campaign while it completed trials on its homegrown vaccines.

The nation developed a large biotech sector partly in order to become self-sufficient in the face of a crippling United States trade embargo. Venezuela & Iran, which also face U.S. sanctions, said they would also trial the Cuban Covid-19 vaccines, which have attracted the interest of other countries like Mexico and Jamaica.

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