Cuba finalizes details to approve use of its Abdala vaccine | Achieved 92.28% efficacy with three doses

Cuba to give the green light to Abdala, the vaccine against Covid-19 which has an effectiveness of 92.28%, the highest of the four designed and in a trial period, and whose authorization is for a sorting to be confirmed by the local Center for Drug Control (Cecmed).

The drug was designed by BioCubaFarma and whether international health requirements are approved It will be the first dose against the coronavirus created in Latin America.

The first step has already been taken: the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology has confirmed that its the vaccination level is among the highest reached by other international laboratories.

The 92.28 percent efficiency achieved by Abdala is achieved by a three-dose schedule and meets the standards required by the World Health Organization (WHO), that to approve a vaccine, they establish an efficacy of 50 percent.

José Moya, WHO representative in Cuba, clarified that the important thing about the Cuban drug is that can be stored at a temperature between 2 and 8 degrees “And this gives an advantage for Latin America, which unfortunately does not have the high refrigeration conditions” necessary for other vaccinators.

This achievement “It is confirmation of this experience that scientific institutions have developed their vaccines, and it is a story from 30 years ago”Moya said.

Besides Abdala, Cuba has three other vaccine candidates, including Sovereign 2, whose partial efficacy results are 62 percent with two of the three doses.

Due to the US embargo, the Cuban Ministry of Health did not start vaccinating the population until May this year, as part of a public health intervention reserved for the most affected areas, including Havana.

Although it has managed to reduce cases in the capital, the rest of the country has registered an alarming increase with more than 193 thousand positive cases for a population of 11.2 million inhabitants.

For this reason, future approval of a first Cuban vaccine will be welcome throughout the region, which is facing a sharp increase in infections.