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Havana (AFP)
Cuba will increase its production capacity for vaccines against meningitis and pneumonia, especially destined for Africa, thanks to a financing of 45 million euros from France, according to an agreement signed this Wednesday in Havana.
This financing “will allow the purchase of new equipment and the remodeling of production centers,” explained the French ambassador to Cuba, Patrice Paoli, during a press conference. The diplomat specified that the first funds for this three-year project will be paid in the last quarter of 2021.
The money will be destined to the Finlay Vaccine Institute, to produce immunizers against meningitis and pneumonia destined for the Cuban population, sub-Saharan African countries and, in general, developing nations, where they are distributed at low cost through WHO and Unicef.
Thanks to this financial contribution, the Finlay Institute will also be able to “achieve the optimal standards required at an international level,” according to a statement delivered to the press.
The Finlay Institute developed the Soberana 02 coronavirus vaccine, currently in the process of being recognized by the WHO, as well as the other Cuban immunogen, Abdala, created by the Center for Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB).
As of Monday, Cuba had immunized 46% of its 11.2 million inhabitants with its own vaccines against the coronavirus. It also launched a unique campaign in the world to vaccinate children from the age of two, a condition imposed by the government for the reopening of schools in November.
“We already have 1.6 million children vaccinated with a first dose,” of the three planned, and “practically zero adverse effects,” said the director of the Finlay Institute, Vicente Vérez, who highlighted that this figure for Friday it should be extended to “almost 2 million children”.
Under the United States embargo since 1962, Cuba began to develop its own vaccines in the 1980s, discovering the first against meningitis B, and today almost 80% of the vaccines it includes in its immunization program are manufactured in the United States. Island.
© 2021 AFP
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