How is Sovereign 02, the vaccine the government wants to buy in Cuba

The government is in talks with Havana for the possible acquisition of one of the “Sovereign 02” vaccines against the coronavirus which is developing in Cuba, and which has already entered phase 3 of the investigation.

Health Minister Carla Vizzotti confirmed she had a meeting in her office with the Cuban Ambassador to Argentina, Pedro Pablo Prada Quintero, to clarify the objectives of the two parties, and they mainly spoke of “Sovereign 02”, how the Cubans named one of their many vaccine candidates to immunize the population against Covid-19.

Vizzotti explained that this was a “high priority strategy” of the Alberto Fernndez administration.

“I had a meeting with the Cuban Ambassador to Argentina, he transmitted and updated me information on the five vaccines that are under development in Cuba, and still working with all technological development. We are very much in contact with Cuba and working together to accelerate research and exploration of possibilities for collaboration at the production level, ”the minister told the newspaper. Clarn.

While there are no confirmed dates or number of doses, it is speculated that the inoculant could reach the country in May. Vizzotti, it should be remembered, is the one who started the secret negotiations with the Russians which ended with the purchases of Sputnik V.

One of five developed in Cuba

Soberana 02 began being administered to medical staff – some 150,000 people – on the island this week as part of the latest phase of trials of two of the five vaccines Cuba is developing.

If they are successful, Sovereign 02 and Abdala could be the first coronavirus vaccines to be developed in Latin America.

As part of the trials, authorities plan to vaccinate Havana’s 1.7 million residents – over the age of 19 – in May, reported this week. Ileana Morales, Director of Science and Technological Innovation at the Ministry of Health.

Cuba has extensive experience in vaccine development, producing its own meningitis B vaccine in the late 1980s.

The Sovereign 02 it is a conjugate vaccine. This means that an antigen fuses with a carrier molecule to improve its stability and efficiency..

In that case, what is done is to bind a toxin from the ttanus to the protein with which the virus attaches the cell.

In this way, cwhen the virus tries to enter the cell using this protein, an immune reaction is generated against the toxin that carries the protein, thus blocking its entry into the cell.

In the first stage of the trials, Cuban scientists tested the application of the vaccine in two doses, and in some cases add a third dose of Sovereign 01 as a booster.

Soberana 02 technology has already been used successfully in other vaccines made in Cuba and does not require, unlike Sputnik V, to be stored in freezers.