Cuba initiates to immunise 150,000 front liners from its homegrown vaccine

Cuba: Cuba has started experimenting its COVID-19 vaccines for Havana’s population.

Soberana-2 has yet to be fully verified as an official vaccine. The professionals are so confident in its effectiveness that the procedure of giving it to 150,000 Cuban doctors, nurses and health workers is now in full swing.

Health specialists carry out extensive interventional studies and late-stage trials, officials announced on Tuesday.

Cuba, which has a long history of producing and exporting vaccines, this month launched late-phase trials of two of its five trial shots, Soberana-2 and Abdala, which will be Latin America’s first home-grown coronavirus vaccines if they prove triumphant.

Ileana Morales, the Health Ministry’s Director of Science and Technological Innovation, stated on a roundtable broadcast on state television that governments would conduct an intervention study in 1.7 million people in Havana by the month of May.

It has already begun for 150,000 frontline workers in the city, estimated to have 2.1 million citizens.

In its Phase III testing of its two vaccine candidates against the new COVID-19 variant, Cuba continues to develop.

The investigations have broadened by incorporating new enlistees to obtain more reliability in which tens of thousands of population are now part of a regular immunization strategy.

On the other hand, Cuba is recording 600 to 1,000 new cases a day, well above the numbers or a handful per day for most of last year. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, the nation has reported 68,250 cases and 401 deaths, one of the world’s lowest rates per capita.

Administration critics have stated Cuba should have purchased approved vaccines from abroad to kick off its vaccination campaign while completing trials on its home-grown vaccines.

The nation developed a large biotech sector somewhat to become self-sufficient in the face of a crippling U.S. trade embargo. Venezuela and Iran, which also face U.S. penalties, say they will also trial the Cuban coronavirus vaccines, which have brought other nations like Mexico and Jamaica.

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