The government of the Mexican State of Jalisco refused to supply the Cuban Abdala vaccine against Covid 19 to the health units under its charge, since it does not have the endorsement of the World Health Organization (WHO).
In an official note published last week, the Jalisco Health Secretariat (SSJ) argued that the vaccine produced on the island will not be received in that state, because “to date there is no evidence of its efficacy and safety, neither as an initial scheme nor as a booster”.
Jalisco’s Secretary of Health, Fernando Petersen Aranguren, told his federal counterpart, Dr. Jorge Alcocer Varela, that in his state “this vaccine will not be received, for the aforementioned reasons,” the statement stated.
The official added that so far not a single dose of Abdala has been received in the state, although he clarified that the federal authority in charge of vaccination against Covid-19 throughout the country, through the Roadrunner strategy, put the Cuban vaccine available to federal health institutions.
“The population must have all this information about the Abdala vaccine so that they can decide whether or not to apply it,” said Petersen Aranguren.
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According to the official note, 83% of the population over 18 years of age in Jalisco has a complete immunization schedule against Covid-19, with vaccines from five different laboratories (AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Pfizer-BioNTech, CanSino and Moderna), “all with WHO endorsement”.
The government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador received a wave of criticism in December 2021 when it authorized the emergency use of the Cuban Abdala vaccine in children between 5 and 11 years of age. Months before, the Mexican Health authorities had announced the signing of an agreement with Cuba to acquire 9 million doses of Abdala that would be supplied to minors.
In Mexico City, booster vaccination with Abdala has not been successful, local media report.
According to data from the Ministry of Health of the Mexican capital (Sedesa), 5 million 841 people (82%) received a booster dose against Covid-19 in 2022, against 84,515 (1%) who were vaccinated with Abdala between December 21, 2022 and January 24, 2023, when the Cuban vaccine was the only one available as a booster option.
The Mexican Federal Commission for the Protection of Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) has only authorized the supply of Abdala to people receiving the Covid-19 vaccination for the first time, but not as a booster dose.
Last December, the Cuban government blamed the WHO’s delay in authorizing the use of Abdala on US economic sanctions, due to the alleged “refusal of several banks” to make a transfer to a company in charge of part of the production.
The president of BioCubaFarma, Eduardo Martínez, said then in an interview with the official Granma newspaper that they had not been able to start up “the line in which recombinant products are manufactured” in their new plant, located in the Mariel Special Development Zone. , due to the fact that “the payments to the company in charge of commissioning the equipment and systems of that production line could not be made”.
Cuba expects to receive the approval of the WHO this year, when the recombinant production line in the new plant can be put into operation, as the world organization has demanded.
The purchase of vaccines from Cuba is part of an extensive collaboration between the Mexican government and Havana. Last May, upon his return from an official trip to the island, López Obrador announced the acquisition of vaccines against Covid-19 for children over two years of age, and the hiring of hundreds of Cuban medical specialists to work in the Aztec country.
