Havana: Cuba begins today the initial phase of clinical trials in humans with its first vaccine candidate against Covid-19, named Soberana 01. The second stage of this process is scheduled for September 11, when the 676 volunteers will be completed, Prensa Latina publishes.
The vaccine candidate is the result of Cuba’s accumulated experience in preventive medicine, mass immunization, and the development of its biopharmaceutical industry, which today shows a well-earned international prestige.
Currently, the largest of the Antilles administers 11 vaccines (eight of national production), with an average of 4 million 800 thousand annual doses of simple or combined immunogens that protect against 13 diseases, and every year it exceeds 98 percent coverage in the entire nation, which endows the population with a high immune level.
For Cubans, without exception, vaccination is free, of universal access, it is integrated into primary health care, and it is a commitment and political will to the health of the population through a comprehensive health system.
The Caribbean island ranks 30th among the more than the 200 vaccine candidates against Covid-19 in development in the world.
Only 30, including Cuba, were approved to start clinical trials, said the director of the Finlay Vaccine Institute, Dr. Vicente Vérez.
The countries that today have more vaccine candidates in development are China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Australia, Japan and Germany, developed countries with connected multinationals, he said.
“The Cuban vaccine candidate, Soberana, is the first in Latin America and the first in a country poor in economic resources, but great in spirit, the reason also why we have achieved it?, Vérez added.