Cuba approves emergency use of home-grown Covid vaccine, Latin America’s first

Cuba approved on Friday its home vaccine against coronavirus for emergency use, the first developed in Latin America.

CECMED health regulator gave approval after Abdala officials announced last month vaccine candidate was more than 92 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 after three doses.

Cuba is working on five coronavirus vaccines and in May began immunizing its population using two: Abdala and Sovereign 2, even before receiving approval.

This week, 6.8 million of Cuba’s 11.2 million people have already received at least one dose vaccine, while 1.6 million have the three necessary doses.

The country has not bought or sought vaccines elsewhere. He hopes to immunize his population before the end of the year.

In June, the BioCubaFarma lab said Abdala “shows an effectiveness of 92.28 percent in its three-dose regimen.”

CECMED said Friday that its approval of the vaccine was based on analysis that Abdala met the requirements of “quality, safety and efficacy.”

It was given “after completing a rigorous dossier evaluation process and having performed inspections of the plants involved,” added Aica Laboratories, where the vaccine is produced.

Under American sanctions, Cuba has a long tradition of making its own vaccines, dating back to the 1980s.

Nearly 80 percent of their vaccines are produced locally.

On Thursday, the Finlay Institute, which manufactures Sovereign 2, also said it showed more than 91% effectiveness after three doses.

The World Health Organization has set a 50% efficacy threshold for coronavirus vaccines to provide protection against the virus or disease.

Cuba has been relatively unharmed by the outbreak, but has experienced a sharp recent increase in cases, with 218,000 cases among its population of 11.2 million and some 1,450 deaths.

Venezuela has already signed a contract to purchase 12 million doses of Abdala and also to produce it locally.

© 2021 AFP