Havana: Cuba continues today the development of the Sovereign 01 vaccine candidate against Covid-19, which once concluded could also benefit the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, indicates the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Recently, during a virtual meeting between directors of the Finlay Vaccine Institute of Cuba and experts from both PAHO and the World Health Organization (WHO), this possibility was mentioned as part of a spirit of solidarity between nations to guarantee universal access to a cure against the new coronavirus.
Likewise, the PAHO representative in Cuba, Dr. José Moya, confirmed to the television channel Telesur that as soon as the Cuban vaccine is available, the regional organization intends to acquire it through cooperation mechanisms and make it available to the rest of the countries of this geographic area.
Previously, Moya told the Granma newspaper his desire that the Cuban proposal to control the pandemic pass all controls and tests, and become an instrument of life at the service of humanity.
The clinical trials of this vaccine candidate – under the trade name Soberana 01 – began on August 24 with a first group of 20 individuals, aged 19 to 59, to evaluate the safety of the drug.
On September 3, the vaccination of a second group began, with the same number of volunteers, in the ages between 60 and 80 years.
All of these volunteers are in good health, and the only adverse effect is mild pain at the injection site, a common side event for all vaccines, early reports indicated.
Once its phase 1 has concluded, the vaccine candidate will enter the next stage on September 11 with a sample size of 676 volunteers, including 40 from the initial period.
The investigation should conclude all its stages in January 2021, but it is expected to have results of almost the entire study by the end of November.
The Cuban vaccine candidate is number 30 in the world and the first in Latin America and the Caribbean to receive authorization for clinical trials.
For Cubans, without exception, vaccination is free and of universal access through a comprehensive health system.
The results of the largest of the Antilles are the product of accumulated experience in preventive medicine and mass immunization; as well as in the development of its biopharmaceutical industry, which today stands out internationally.
