Havana, January 20th, 2021. The Cuban government will produce 100 million doses of its vaccine Soberana 02 against the new coronavirus this year with the aim of responding to its own demand and for other countries, one of the drug's researchers reported on Wednesday.
"We are reorganizing our production capacities because we really have a lot of demand for the vaccine and we have to prepare ourselves," the director of the Finlay Institute, Vicente Vérez, told a group of journalists at a conference in which a tour of the laboratory where manufactures the substance against COVID-19 was offered.
The volunteers - a group of them received a placebo as part of the study, although once it is finished they will be immunized with the real vaccine - said they had not reported discomfort. Some neighbors from the community clinic even came to volunteer as part of the trial.
After injecting the people - in a range between 19 and 80 years - they waited in the same clinic before returning to their homes and were followed up at 24, 48 and 72 hours.
Vérez stressed that the antigen is safe after noting that it does not contain the living virus but parts of it, so - according to the expert - its placement generates immunity but does not cause major reactions and, therefore, does not need extra refrigeration, like others candidates of the world.
Meanwhile, Finlay researchers are working with countries such as Italy and Canada to verify the impact of these vaccines -especially Sovereign 01- on people who have already had COVID-19 and are convalescing but are at risk of reinfection. Likewise, the efficacy is evaluated in the face of the impact of new mutations such as the one described in Great Britain, Japan or California.
For the next few weeks, the vaccination will be extended to 150,000 people on the island, confirmed Vérez, on the way to mass immunization and a test will be carried out in February to protect children with Soberana 02, he said.
After several months of keeping the pandemic under control, Cuba suffered an outbreak this beginning of the year, after the opening of its airports and despite having a preventive health protocol. From March to date, 19,122 infections and 180 deaths have accumulated on the island.
The scientist did not offer details of the price that the vaccine will have for sale to other countries. In Cuba their placement is free and voluntary.
Despite being a small country, Cuba has a developed scientific center that produces almost all the vaccines it needs and state-of-the-art medicines.
"Cuba's strategy to commercialize the vaccine has a combination of humanity and health impact and the need for our system to (financially) support the production of vaccine and drugs for the country," said Vérez.
“We are not a multinational company where (financial) return is the number one reason,” he added. "We work backwards, create more health and return is a consequence, it will never be the priority."
(Source: Cubadebate)