The sovereign vaccine 02one of the formulas of the Cuban Government against the Covid-19may be partially produced in Italy thanks to an agreement signed on Thursday at the BioHabana 2022 international pharmaceutical congress, which takes place in Havana, reported EFE.
The state Finlay Institute of Vaccines (IFV) from Cuba —creator of Soberana 02—, the company ADIENNE Pharma & Biotech and the Agency for Economic and Cultural Exchange with Cuba (AICEC) —both from Italy— signed this memorandumwhich will allow formulating, filling and packaging the immunogen in the European country.
Soberana 02 does not have authorization for use outside of Cubabut this agreement seeks to contribute to the prequalification process of this vaccine before the World Health Organization (WHO)according to official media.
Recently, the president of the Cuban state biopharmaceutical complex BioCubaFarma, Eduardo Martínez Díaz, recognized that the Delay in obtaining WHO recognition for the Covid-19 vaccines developed on the Island It is the full responsibility of that entity..
He admitted that he would have preferred the authorization from the WHO to arrive “earlier”, but assured that the delay was due to a decision by the Cuban authorities, who would have given priority to mass production of vaccines.
The general director of the IFV, Vicente Vérez, said that the agreement with the Italian entities is closed, thinking of a potential timing of entry of this vaccine into Europe or even North America. “This requires alliances to share science,” she declared.
Verez further explained that the intention is, in a second phase, to be able to evaluate if they could be completely produced in this Italian company Soberana 02 and other IFV vaccines.
“We have reached this agreement, moved in this direction, which is very positive for our vaccine,” he said.
The general director of the IFV praised the Soberana 02 results in its pediatric application —is authorized in Cuba for children over two years old— and its fundamental contributions to the national vaccination campaign in Cuba.
“It is an unprecedented event, with a vaccine that was also conceived as a vaccine for children from the beginning, the only one against Covid-19 conceived as such, which allowed us to move forward very quickly,” he added.
In addition to Soberana 02, the Cuban Government is massively applying two other anticovid formulas to its population: Abdala and Soberana Pluswhich both received authorization for emergency use by the Cuban regulatory entity in the middle of last year.
These three Cuban vaccines showed an efficacy of over 90% in the studies, according to the national health authorities, but none have yet been reviewed by independent external experts.
Cuba does not participate in the Covax mechanism, which the authorities have recently contacted after criticizing it in the state media. Covax was created by the WHO for low-income nations to access vaccines.
Till the date, more than 9.9 million people (of the 11.2 million inhabitants of Cuba) have the complete vaccination schedulefigures that represent 90% of the total population and 95% of the vaccinable population, according to the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP).
In addition, he has said that some 6.5 million people have also received the booster dose.
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